Covington Latin tennis star has
won three straight regional singles
titles in Northern Kentucky and was
state runner-up in 1999 and a
semi-fina list in 2000.

Won twice at the Division I state swimming
championships in the l 00 freestyle and 200
individual medley and helped Ursuline repeat
as state cham pions. Broke school record with
12 state championships for her career.

Led Holy Cross to first-ever tate
soccer cha mpionship game. Led
Northern Kentucky in scoring with
29 goals and 16 assists for a tota l
of 74 points.

Lakota East soccer goalie will1eave
school as Ohio's all-time leader in
shutouts (42) and posted a career
record of 49-2 1-10.

Led the state of Kentucky in scoring
(25.9) this season and finished with 2,9 17
career points at Bishop Brossart. Won
Miss BasketbaU honors, only the third
Northern Kentucky gi rls' player to ever
win the award.

Generally consid red one of the top
players in Ohio, Matt finish ed fifth in
Cincinnati in scoring at 21.4 ppg. and
led Moeller to th e regional finals whi le
earning first team Al l-State honors.

One of the area's mo t dominant
golfers the past several years, this
Wilmington senior won th Ohio tate
championship her junior year and just
missed a repeat last fall , fini hing second
in a sudden-death playo ff.

Andy ran seventh at this year's Division I cross
country state championship meet to help St.
Xavier win their second cross country title
in three years, and is also an outstanding
performer on the Bombers' track team.

One of Cincinnati's elit runners the pa t several years, this Lakola East star won conferÂˇ
ence, district and regional cross country indiÂˇ
vidual titles, and capped it all off by winning
the Division I state till in Columbus.
Photos by Philip Groshong Photography, Mike Botts and Dan Beineke.

Leadtng the St. Xavier Bombers
to a hoped-for unprecedented 23rd Ohto State swim·
ming champtonshtp ts sentor Jayme Cramer, last
year"s Cincinnati Division I Mate Swimmer of the Year.
At the recent 1Bth annual Southwest Ohio Swimming
& Divtng Classic. Jayme set a Classic record In win·
ntng the 200 butterfly (1 :50.09) and also took 1st in the
200 backstroke. A high school athletic and academic
Ali-American, Jayme in last year"s Ohio state competi·
tion took 1st in 100 Butterfly, 1st in the t 00 backstroke
(in a state record 48: t 5). and helped hts learn to firsts
in both the 200 medley and 400 frees·yie relays. A
2000 Olympic team qualifter. Jayme. whn also swims
for the Anderson Barracudas, holds 3 Ohtu state and 8
national YMCA records. He will swim next year for
Stanford University.

Holding 7 Ohio state swimming
gold medals for the defending state champ Ursuline
Academy is senior Tami Ransom . named last year as
Cincinnati's Female Swimmer of the Year. In Ohio
state competition last year, Tamt won the 200 individ·
ual medley (2:01.94) and 100 freestyle (state record
50.87) championships. AI the recent 1Blh Annual
Southwest Ohio Swtmming & Div1ng Classic, this aca·
demlc honors student ftntshed 1st 111 the 200 tndtviduai
medley (2: 05.97). Also a Clnctnnati Marlins· swimmer,
Tami was a 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials qualifi er and last
March ftnished 8th In the world in the 400 tndfvidual
medley at the short course world championships in
Athens. Greece. She is the U.S. Junior Nattonals
record-holder in the 200 freestyle (2:04.82) and will
swim next year for Stanford University.

··-·
--

One of Cincinnati's most prolific scorers is Moeller senior Matt Sylvester, averaging about 22 points a game.
The 6'7' forward had big games In a recent San Diego
tournament, scoring 29 against both DeLaSalle and
Centennial high schools. and. back home. notched 25
vs. Princeton and Elder. As a sophomore. Matt played
on the Crusaders· Ohio stale championship squad and
was named to the state All Tournament team. As a jun·
lor. he averaged 22 potnts. 8 rebounds , 2 blocks and 3
assists while earning 1st Team All Conference. City
and District honors, and was named 2nd Team All
Ohio. An AAU All Amencan, Matt has basketball blood·
lines - dad Mike played for Moeller. University of
Dayton and professionally In Italy. Matt will play next
year for Ohio Stale University.

With more than I ,300 career
points, Boone County senior guard Clara Henderson Is
making a run at becoming the school's all-time leading
scorer. capping a great prep career. Clara already
holds the school record for ass1sts In a game (13) . Last
season as a junior, she averaged 19 points. 4
rebounds, and 3 assists per game while earning 1st
Team All Northern Kentucky and honorable mentton All
State honors. She also was named to the All
Tournament team of the Northern Kentucky Basketball
Classic. Strong games this season Include two 31·
point games (Notre Dame and Cltnton County) and
two 28-point games (Notre Dame and Oldham
County) . She was also named MVP of the Lady Rebel
Classic Tournament. In the fall, Clara will play basket·
bail for Loyola University in Chicago.

Leadtng the St. Xavier Bombers
to a hoped-for unprecedented 23rd Ohio State swim·
ming championship is senior Jayme Cramer, last
years Cincinnati Division I Male Swimmer of the Year.
AI the recent 18th annual Southwest Ohto Swimming
& Divtng Classtc, Jayme set a Classic record in win·
nfng the 200 bunerfly (1:50.09) and also took 1st in the
200 backstroke. A high IIOhool athlettc and academic
All-American, Jayme in last year"s Ohto state com pelt·
lion took 1st In 100 Butterfly, 1st in the 100 backstroke
(in a stale record 48: 15}, and helped hts team to firsts
in both the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays. A
2000 Olympic team qualifier. Jayme, who also swims
for the Anderson Barracudas. holds 3 Ohio stale and 8
national YMCA records. He will swim ne><t year for
Stanford University.

~

•

Holding 7 Ohio state swimming
gold medals for the defending state champ Ursuline
Academy is senior Taml Ransom , named last year as
Cincinnati's Female Swtmmer of the Year. In Ohio
state competition last year. Taml won the 200 individ·
ual medley (2:01.94) and 100 freestyle (state record
50.87) championships. At lhe recent 18th Annual
Southwest Ohio Swimming & Dtvmg Classic, thts academic honors student finished 1st In the 200 individual
medley (2:05.97). Also a Cinctnnati Marlins· swtmmer.
Tami was a 2000 U.S. Olymptc Trials qualifier and last
March finished Bth tn the world in the 400 Individual
medley at the short course world championships in
Athens, Greece. She is the U.S. Junior Nationals
record-holder in the 200 freestyle (2:04 .82} and will
swim next year for Stanford University.

~

••

One of Cincinnati's most prolific scorers is Moeller senior Matt Sylvester, averaging about 22 points a game.
The 6'7' forward had big games tn a recent San Diego
tournament, sconng 29 agatnst both DelaSalie and
Centennial high schools. and. back home, notched 25
vs. Princeton and Elder. As a sophomore, Matt played
on the Crusaders· Oh1o state championship squad and
was named to the state All Tournament team. As a jun·
lor, he averaged 22 points . 8 rebounds, 2 blocks and 3
assists while eaming 1st Team All Conference, City
and District honors. and was named 2nd Team All
Ohio. An AAU All American, Matt has basketball blood·
lines - dad Mike played for Moeller, University of
Dayton and professionally in Italy. Mall will play next
year for Ohio State Untversity.

With more than 1.300 career
points, Boone County senior guard Clara Henderson is
making a run at becoming the school's all-time leading
scorer. capping a great prep career. Ciara already
holds the school record for assists in a game (13}. Last
season as a ju ntor, she averaged 19 points. 4
rebounds, and 3 assists per game while earning 1st
Team All Northern Kentucky and honorable mention All
Stale honors. She also was named to the All
Tournament team of the Northern Kentucky Basketball
Classic. Strong games this season Include two 3 1·
potnt games (Notre Dame and Clinton County) and
two 28-point games (Notre Dame and Oldham
County). She was also named MVP of the Lady Rebel
Classic Tournament. In the fall . Ciara will play basketball for Loyola University tn Chicago.

Ciara Henderson
Birthdate: 1114183
Residence: Burlington, Ky.
Graduating Yr. I .JPA: 2001 I 3.6
Height I Weight: 5'8" 1145 lbs.
Greatest Achievement: Div. I scholarship-U. Loyola of Chicago
Parents: Mike & Diane
Brothers: Shane (30),Chris (28)
Favorite Movie: Coyote Ugly
Favorite Book: The Great Gatsby
Favorite Entertaher: Julia Stiles
Biggest Influence: " My parents and
coach Nell Fookes."
Sports Heroes: foJichael Jordan,
Becky Hammcnd
Most Like to Meet: Michael Jordan
Future Goal: " Be successful as a
college athlete, student, and in my
chosen career."
With more than 1,300 career points. Boone
County senior gu"rd Ciara Henderson is
making a run at be::oming the school's alltime leading score Âˇ, capping a great prep
1
career. Ciara a ready holds the school record for assists in
game (13). Last season as a jLnior. she averaged 19
lnts, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists per game while earning 1st
Team All Northern Kentucky and honorable mention All State
honors . She also was named to the All Tournament team of the Northern
Kentucky Basketball Classic. Strong games this season include two 31point games (Notre Dame and Clinton County) and two 28-point games
(Notre Dame and Oldham County). She was also named MVP of the Lady
Rebel Classic Tournament. In the fall , Ciara will
play basketball for Loyola University in Chicago.

Coach's Quote - "Ciara is an extremely talented and versatile guard. She can shoot the
three, and penetrate and play off the dribble. She
is as strong defensively as she is offensively. She
is a great team leader, complete player, hard
worker and a pleasure to coach."
- Nell Fookes, Basketball Coach

Boone County H.1gh School
"Boone County High School has a
well-rounded and highly respected
athletic tradition in all of its girls'
and boys' sports ... Our athletic and
academic programs complement
each other very well."
- Jay Mulcahy,
Athletic Director
Location: Florence, Ky.
Year Founded: 1956
Principal : Mike Sander
Alhletic Director: Jay Mulcahy
Enrollment I Faculty: 1 ,343 I 82

One of Cincinnati's mo3t prolific scorers is Moeller
senior Matt Sylvester, aV9raging about 22 points a game.
The 6'7" forward had bi~ games in a recent San Diego tournament, scoring 29 against both DeLaSalle and Centennial high schools, and, back
home, notched 25 vs. Ptinceton and Elder. As a sophom:xe, Matt played
on the Crusaders' Ohio state championship squad and was named to the
state All Tournament team . As a junior, he averaged 22 points, 8
rebounds, 2 blocks and 3 assists while earning 1st Team All Conference,
City and District honors, and was named 2nd Team All Ohio. An AAU All
American, Matt has basketball bloodlines- dad Mike played for Moeller,
University of Dayton and professionally in Italy. Matt will play next year for
Ohio State University.

Coach's Quote - ''Mall is a highly skilled, athletic basketball player. He can play any position
on the floor and he is a prideful, intense competitor."
- Carl Kremer, Basketball Coach

Archbishop Moeller High School
''We are proud of the diversity of
our athletic successes and the
coaches and athletes who have
made them all possible."
- Dick Beerman,
Barry Borman
Athletic Directors

Sylvester keys Moeller in rout of De La Salle
Article from San Diego Union-Tribune
ENCINITAS -- Before the National Prep Classic, two players were placed in the spotlight, front and
center.
Concord De La Salle's Joe See, called by many the best shooting guard in the nation, and Cincinnati
Archbishop Moeller's Matt Sylvester, one ofthe nation's top forwards.
When they squared off last night, it was almost a draw in scorebook, but not on the court.
Sylvester scored the first nine points of the game for the Crusaders, who jumped on top early and
pulled away to upset De La Salle 75-56 in the National Division semifinals at Torrey Pines High.
Moeller (5-2) moves into tonight's 7 o'clock championship against Corona Centennial, which
defeated Dobson of Mesa, Ariz., 71-66.
"This is a dream come true," said Sylvester, who scored 29 against the Spartans, ranked No. 1 in
California and No. 8 nationally by Fox Sports.
See finished with 30 of his team's 56 points but would take little joy in the individual effort, which
came despite being slowed by tendinitis in both knees.
It was the second loss for De La Salle against eight wins. Last year, De La Salle lost to Santa Ana
Mater Dei in the National Prep Classic championship en route to the state title and a 31-1 record.

"This team is more athletic than last year's, but that team had better chemistry," said the 6-foot See.
"The loss here last year was an awakening, so hopefully it'll be the same this year."
Although See downplayed his physical condition, he was noticeably slower attacking the basket last
night. His knees have not affected his three-point shot. Nor his floor play as he contributed five
assists, three steals and five rebounds.
De La Salle coach Frank Allocco marvels at his guard's play and courage.
"His knees were so bad he was only able to practice a half-hour a day," said Allocco. "What Joe
brings us is a steadying force, keeping everyone on an even keel. He never panics; he has ice water in
his veins."
He can shoot a little, too.

r

Allocco noted that in one game he tossed in six long-range field goals, two more than last night.

(
"He's a great shooter; he doesn't miss-- even in practice," said Allocco.
See didn't argue.
"Eyalch ttim~ I s~oot a tOhrh:e, I expect it to go in," said See, who long ago committed to Oregon State
S ves er IS gomg to
10 State.
Âˇ
~--

Football not the only success story at Moeller
By Steve Brand
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

December 29, 2000

ENCINITAS-- Mention Cincinnati Moeller and thoughts quickly tum to
football.
The Gerry Faust-coached Crusaders teams of the late 1960s and '70s were
as legendary nationally as Concord De La Salle has been the past decade.
But ask true Moeller followers which sport has won an Ohio state title more
recently, and the answer is basketball. That came two years ago and
although Moeller football teams continue to go deep into the playoffs, no
banners have been added to the collection recently.
1

Moeller 59
1 "Football will always be the flagship sport at Moeller,"
~~=;:::;:.=~-!said Carl Kramer, now in his lOth year as coach ofthe

1:=-

I

St. Ignatms 521 Crusaders basketball team, which is making its first
appearance m the National Prep Classic at Torrey Pines High.

''When I came to Moeller in 1990, I said football wasn't our main
competition; our competition wears different colored uniforms."
It worked.

Moeller has won five Greater Catholic League titles in the past 10 years. In
the first 30 years, the Crusaders won just one.
And the college recruiters have learned to stick around after football season
to watch a little hoops. To see players like Matt Sylvester, who recently
gave Ohio State a commitment.
Sylvester, a 6-foot-7 forward who is being called a young John Havlicek,
led Moeller past San Francisco St. Ignatius last night, 59-52, and into the
semifinals tonight.
"We have a lot to prove in this tournament," said Sylvester, who followed
up Wednesday's 20-point game against St. Augustine with 21 against St.
Ignatius. "California considers us hicks but Cincinnati has great basketball
and we represent Cincinnati basketball."

l

. . .Âˇ Âˇ .

. A I SO-member traveling contingent that is

Th~y also have suDpJ?ortehrs.t 1 rooms and includes the school's cheerleaders.
takmg up 75 San 1ego o e

"We're a family-oriented school and we have a great cory_munit~~~~nt_
us," said Kramer, noting that every member of the team Ives WI 1
mile radius ofthe school.
"The truth is, if our bowling team -- res, we have a bowling team -- came
to California, you'd see a lot of fans.
Not as many, however, as the basketball team.

Centennial Collects school's biggest win
Article from San Diego Union-Tribune
ENCINITAS-- It was, said Corona Centennial High basketball coach Val Popov, the biggest win in
the school's history.
"We're moving up," said Popov after his Huskies rallied from a 13- point deficit to race past
Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller 70-67 in the championship game of the National Prep Classic at
Torrey Pines High.
"This is a big step for us, a big step."
University of New Mexico-bound Jamaal Williams quickly agreed with his coach after leading his
team with a 27-point effort. His nine points during an 11-0 run after Moeller had taken a 52-39 lead
completely turned the game around.
"It was the biggest win in the school's history," said Williams, a 6-foot-6, 230-pounder who moves
like a guard. "This is our biggest tournament victory ever, but there's more to come."
Centennial opened the season ranked No. 19 in the state by Cal-Hi Sports magazine, but the Huskies
are certain to move up after pushing their season record to a glittering 13-0 with the emotional

viCtory.
The physical game saw 56 fouls called and Centennial took advantage by scoring 26 points from the
free throw line. By game's end, three Moeller starters-- including tournament Most Valuable Player
Matt :Sylvester-- were watching from the bench.
The Crusaders (6-3) had used a pair of 8-0 runs to push the advantage to 52-39 with 2:48 remaining
in the third quarter. Ohio State University signee Sylvester had scored 22 of his game-high 29 points
in the first half and appeared unstoppable.
But when Centennial went to what Popov called his "run and jump fullcourt press," the momentum;
not to mention the tempo of the game, took a dramatic change.
"We ran different guys at Sylvester-- finesse players, position players, power players-- to tty to wear
him out and it worked," said Popov. "The big thing was (6-4, 210-pound) Bryan Gonzalez put a body
on him and that seemed to slow him down."
And the jump?
"We went inside more and started rebounding, which we weren't doing in the first half," explained
the Huskies coach.
Still, the patient, disciplined visitors from_Cincinnati only a)peare~ mildgi~~~~:~' t:~g;~W~J t~:
lead at 55-52 and using free throws ofthetr own to remam c ose w en a
Crusaders to within one at 67-66.
On the inbounds pass, Sylvester went for the steal and was whistled for his fifth foul.
With him went any chance for a victory, although ~oeller was still only one back with 11 seconds to
play before J.R. Reese hit two free throws for the winners.
"They were able to get the ball to Williams," said Moeller c?a~h Carl Kramer. "It was a very physical
game and with our three big kids in foul trouble, they went mstde.
,.

"They're quick, they're athletic and they're a very good basketball team."
I

\

Williams agreed with that assessment, too.

J

Moeller: Edges Elderj~~

on last-second shot
From Page Dl

made it 39-38 Elder with 54
seconds left.
Sylvester answered with a
12-foot jumper in the lane
with 39 seconds left. But
Elder again responded.
Coming out of a timeout,
point guard Jake Bazeley got
the ball at the top of the key,
hesitated, then lofted a perfect alley-oop pass to a backcutting Schenke, who dunked
with 25 seconds left.
That created the possibility of Elder ruining Moeller's
final game in the old gym.
"It probably would have

~j ftb;\01 U>OI
D·z.-~¥~

been the worst loss I:y~eyer
experienced,'' Syl'l'ester
said. "My dad was he~( all
the alums were in the'house.
We wanted to show them
this is still the place~w!J.ere
championships are l'lliKie."
Elder, which could have tied
Moeller atop the GC~. $9uth
standings with ~ victorx, .f~ll to
12-6 and 6-4 m league play.
Guard Mike Mahon :lea: the
Panthers with 10 J>Oii\W,'n
D.DEII (41) - r.tiler 1 0 2, Bazeley 3 3 9,
Benken 3 o 6, Scheilke 2 I 5, Mahon 4 0 10.

Moeller's Matt Sylvester (front), bound for Ohio State, was
named one of the two best Division I prep players in the state.
Horace and Winton Woods junior
Robert Hite each were named to
the All-Ohio third team.
St. Xavier's Jordan Cornette
received special mention. Jake Bazeley of Elder, Darryl Peterson of
Western Hills, Paul Volkerding of

Harrison, DeForrest Riley of Winton Woods, Kevin Schappell of
Loveland, and Justin Wilson of
Wilmington all were named honorable mention.
•

- -lists,
--06

AII-S~ate

'I

basketball until September. I hurt
my back playing baseball and sat out
for a month."
A more determined Bazeley
showed up for basketball tryouts his
sophomore year and earned a spot
.on the junior varsity.
"My brother (Mike) played as a
freshman and sophomore but didn't
make the varsity," Bazeley said.
"When I came home and told Dad
that I had made the team, he cried."
But Bazeley played sparingly until
the final five g~. Ironically, Bazeley was cut from the junior varsity
baseball team as a sophomore, leading to his year-round dedication to
basket.ball.
Bazeley saw limited actioo on the
varsity la$t seasoo, _tllaying behind

"B~lieve me, I know this is not
a very popular decision " Seifert
said. "Not in th,e comm'unity and
not in this building. Jerry had the
utn'lost feeling for Steve."
The move saves the Panthers
about $2 million but leaves them
with three unpr~ven quarterbacks
on the roster.
Seifert said Jeff Lewis who has
yet to start a game in 'five seasons, would go into training camp
as the No. 1 quarterback and
would be challenged by Daymeune
Craig and Matt Lytle. He said he
had to waive the 36-year-old
Beuerlein to see if one of them
can emerge into Carolina's quarterback for the future.
Beurlein has had eight operations ip tha past 14 months. Five
of them came after his career
season in 1999, when he pasSed
for an NFL-best 4,436 yards and
36: touchdowns in 1999 and m&de
t~e Pro Bowl for the first time in
his career.

·"As -iood as Jake is on offe(l,Se,
he's also aggressive and hard-nosed
on defense," Schoenfeki said .. "He's
very vocal and a good floor leader.
I.
He can drive to the basket, pull up \IV
I 00
for a short jwnp shot or hit the ·
.
3-~ter. He has weaknesses."
Prior to the season, Schoenfejd -lt;l.lll
offered Bazeley a challeq.ge, one he 'l"M~lsd Press
thrill."
accepted and achieved.
·
. ·
After watching Bazeley play
"Coach challenged me to make . A.J. Chnstoff, most recentlr
against St. X, Schoenfeld knew the first team in the (Greater Catholic linebackers coach at Southern Cali6-foot-3, 185-pounder would play an League)," Bazeley said. ''He tokl me fomia, is the new defensive coordiintegral role this season.
it was mine if I wanted it."
na:tor for the Cincinnati Bearcats.
"The best thing that happened to· Bazeley's ballhandling slciliS will'
Christoff, 53, also has served as
Jake was playing beliind Sean and be challenged by Brookhaven, which defensive coordinator at Idaho, OrMike," Schoenf~ said. "~e was presses the entire game and tries to · ep, Stanford, Notre Dame and
a_lways ~ agamst. them m prac- force the tempo.
. Cobada.
tlce! .which enabled him to learn the
If Elder wms, the Panthers will
the UC coaching
!)OSition."
play for the school's fourth state· ·
~
Schoenfeld descri~ed Bazeley, .. c~973, ·~~ '93). oo
are~k::
~
who ..Bvera.ieS 13 .oomt.s and feu.:- SaturdaY..
the WRIIJr: lflile. ...
~-- ---- ---· -· .
ble figures.
When Rowland was hit in the
head during the final game of the
season against St. Xavier, Bazeley
took over during the second half. .
"We beat St. X by three points,
and I ffi?n't miss a sho~ and had
some assiSts," Bazeley said. "It was
senior night, and that was a big

1\a.llege

no

salary cap.
...
The team signed free Slent
B~a~ Johnson to~ five--~-$28
mtlhon contract JUSt three days
after claiming Leaf for &, ,$ 100
waiver f~e. Johnson wilJ~!ace
Shaun Kmg as the ~tattet:, and
Leaf becomes the thirdlUittterback.
.
'"~"".

COLUMBUS- Two players
jrom high-profile programs headed for higher-profile programs
took the top honors on the
2000-2001 Associated Press Division I boys All-Ohio high school
basketball team announced Monday.
Moeller's Matt Syivester, a 6foot-7 senior, shares the player of
the year honors in the big-schoo1
division with Thomas Worthington's JJ: Sullinger.
Syivester, who has sigoed to
play next season at Omo State,
averaged 21.4 'points and 7.5 rebounds a game while shooting 48
percent from 3-point range.
Sullinger, a 6-5 senior. who will
next play for Arkansas, had averages of 20.6 points, 8:8 rebounds,
6 assists, 2.1 blocks and 1.8 steals
a gal'l)e.
The coaches of the year in the
division are Jed Dunn, who led
Lyndhurst Brush to a 17-3 record
and a league title, and Columbus
Brookhaven's Bruce Howard, who
guided his team to a perfect record, a No. l ranking in the final
poll and state tournament berth,
where it will play Elder.
Western Hills senior Danny

Hts numbers were down last
season - he passed for 3,730
yards and 1~ touchdowns:- but.he
played behmd an offens1ye line
that allowed a league-high. 69
sacks.
· BRONCOS : Denard Walker,
one of the premier free-age~t
cornerbacks on the market thts
year, has ~greed to a six-year
contract w1th the Broncos.
.
Walker, 27, has started 56
games in four years for Tennessee, including 15 last season. He
has be~n among the Titans'
leaders m passes broken up the
past three seasons. .
BUCCANEERS: Ryan Leaf.
will try to jumpstart his career
under a restructured contract.
Leaf, the second pick in the
1998 draft who was released after three disappointing seasons
with the San Diego Chargers,
agreed to take a pay cut and
remain with the Bucs, who
claimed him off waivers March 2.
Leaf's base salary for next
season was scheduled to be $1.5
million. Without the new deal,
·which team spokesman Reggie
Roberts said runs through .2003,
the quarterback would have
counted $2.8 mi~ion against the

·

nn...,:n-4-n..,·ts

~.Rti..Clrll
Minter said Monday. The team
~ spring practice in two weeks.
Gilbert, 36,. spent three years
as linebackers coach for the
NFL's Tennessee Titans from
1997 to 1999 and has been a
colliege ass~stant coach at Navarro
State, UNLV and Dlinois.
Hendel, 40, spent the past five

th~ team wouldn t owe ttitn:anythmg unless he made the:_1.!3m.
RAMS-BUCS ·TRAO!•·"fhe
St. Lou1s
. Rams, Ioo k'm~''"to
,, fimd
the parts to rebuild a, &fe_nse
that gave up nearly 3(1,',~mts
~r game last season, @uired
linebacker Jeff Goos,~~Jrom
Tampa Bay. The Buc_caneers
get the fifth-round pick"lli' the
April draft in return. ·,J"'."
JETS: Matthew H~tte,
Minnesota's third wide r~~iver
last season behind Midc;U~town
native Cris Carter and'"Uandy
Moss, signed a two-year.;,:contract with the Jets.
..;:
DOLPHINS: Damon J.fuard,
the Dolphins' backup -9.\Wrterback the past two yell~ .was
released, three days aft~ the
team signed Ray Lucasr1t&J>ack
up starter Jay Fiedler. ,;,; "
BILLS: Quarterba~;lk Alex
Van Pelt re-signed ..yitb:.;·the
Bills, taking over Doug~F~ie's
spot as backup to Rob Johnson.
Van Pelt spent the.,~ six
seasons with the Bills. ,l;!e, was
the second- and third~g.ring
quarterback last year. ·~"'

,.,,.,..

.

~or

uc

I .II )•

statr·
·
-~·:
'i

'

.t.J

.1~
, ,
years as defensive coordiPalor at
Western Kentucky. Hendel-Was a
North Carolina State · li~acker
from 1980 to 1982 while'Minter
loll'h
was on the Wolfpack's stan,"
HJl~J

championship game, which Moeller won.
"Matt had a pretty average
freshman year, and he wasn't a
great practice player in his sophomore year," Kremer said. "But
when we asked him to do a lot, in
our toughest games, he played his
best. The great ones have that
ability."
Sylvester said he owes a great
deal of that to his father. When
Mike Sylvester played in Italy, his
family went with him. It was during those years (from ages 6
months to 8 years) that Matt
decided he wanted to play basketball for a living - and that Mike
decided there would be no babying his son if the goal was to be
reached. Both agree that father
has been son's biggest critic- and
his best influence.
Matt is joining the family's tradition of athletic excellence. His.
uncle Steve played for the Oakland Raiders, and his uncle Vince
played football at the University
of Cincinnati. Matt said that tradition is more a source of inspiration than of pressure.
"I'm a Sylvester, a well-known
name here," Matt said. "I don't
want to walk off the court and
have people saying: 'Oh, that's the
Sylvester kid. People say he's the
best in Cincinnati, but I don't

think he's much.' I don't want to
leave doubts in anyone's mind.''
Sylvester doubted himself once.
Invited to compete in the Nike
All-America basketball camp after
his sophomore season, he felt
physically overmatched. But he
eventually scored 24 points in a
game, convincing himself he belonged.
Matt announced in July he will
attend Ohio State.
As a junior last season, Sylvester averaged 21 points and seven
rebounds a game and was named
first-team all-city, but Moeller
went just 10-11.
Kremer said this season Sylves- '
ter will face the mounting pressure, the wrath of opposing fans
and the temptation to try to do
too much. He also said he's confident Sylvester will improve as a
senior.
That's because Sylvester isn't
satisfied with one title and his
individual accolades.
"I want to go out and score
more points than anyone else on
the court, get more rebounds than
anyone else and just try to dominate the game," he said. "We've
won the state championship, but I
was a sophomore, so that really
wasn't my team. I want people to
say I won it as a sophomore and
was led, and I won it as a senior
and was the leader. That would
mean a lot to me."

Matt Sylvester has had a
basketball in his hands since
he was a baby, so it makes
sense that he can do just
about anything he wants
with one now.
Sylvester, a versatile 6foot-7 senior at Moeller, is
considered the best high
school basketball player in
Cincinnati - an honor he
seemingly was born to receive. His father, Mike Sylvester, was also a star at
Moeller and played professionally for 17 seasons in
Italy. He taught his son the
perimeter skills not often associated with players his
size, and now Moeller coach
Carl Kremer has given
Mattthe freedom to flourish,
nqt confining his star to the
inside.
"If he gets the rebound,
he knows he's allowed to just
go with it," Kremer said.

Prep previews
1he Enquirer is previewing the
boys high school basketball season:
Wednesday: Enquirer preseason
Top 10 polls. (See online at
Cincinnati.com).
Today: Preseason top player and
players to watch.
Friday: Team-by-team capsules.

"He'll play what we call the
four spot, but he'll handle
the ball, post up and shoot 3s
as well. He plays all facets of
the game."
Sylvester became a varsity starter in his sophomore
year and began showing a
knack for excelling in big
games. He had a game-winning, buzzer-beating tip in
the state semifinals and then
scored 16 points in the state
MIKE SIMONS/for lhe Cincinnati Enquirer

See SYLVESTER, Page C3
â&#x20AC;˘ Other top players, C3

!Moeller's Matt Sylvester, considered the top prep
basketball player in Cincinnati, comes from one of
the best-known athletic families in town.

When decision time arrives
for Mike Fenis in cm·]y June,
the 18-yea.J'old Colerain senior ·
baseball player expects to hit a
horne run.
"It's been.rny Iife-longdrearn
to play professional baseball."
Ferris said. "If I'm drafted, it
will be hard to turn down,
because it would be living out
that cham."
. Fcnis, considered one of
tl1e two best senior high school
baseball players in Ohio,
expects to be drafted by a
major-league team in the annual June runateur draft.

Blessed with a fluid swing,
Ferris has signed a national letter-of-intent .to play baseball at
Kentucky.
But Fenis hasn't ruled out
skipping college in favor . of
immediately_ playing professionally if drafted in an early round
and the signing bonus is Iight
"It's not like football or basketball, where you can play one
year in college and then turn
pro," Ferris said. "In baseball,
once you enter college, you
must play for at least three
yeru·s before turning pro."
One l)lajor-league scout said
Fenis is one of Ohio's best
high school players.
"A lot depends on what type
of sp1ing Mike has at Colerain,"
the scout said. 'The scouts want
to update his swing and see if
he's hitting for more power."
Colerain's first preseason

scrimmage against St Xavier ·he attended several national
on March 19wasanexarnpleof. camps attended by more than
the interest professional teams 350 scouts.
have in Ferris.
·
· Another scout spoke in
''111ere were at least 14 pro- more glowing tcnns of Ferris
fessional· scouts .at the. scrim- as a power hitte1:
mage," Colerain baseball coach · · "What sets Ferris apart is the
Chris Newton Said . .'1bis will. power he has· to any field," the
be the case all season."
scout said. "I've watched him
A 6-foot-3, 200.pound senior . play three times and every
center fielder, Fenis is expect~ ··game he hit the ball hard every
ed to break most of the school's time."
. offensive records this season.
Fenis is awru·e hitting for a
After .four games, Ferris high average is· only part of the
already ·holds the school equation. Physical gifts records for career home runs power, foot speed and bat
(24), runs scorecf (74), runs speed - and mental approach
batted in (82) and doubles (25). are as crucial.
.
"Mike's a power .hitter; last
"Evei'ybody has told me that
yeru·, he had more h.ome runs my bat will get me drafted,"
and doubles. combined tl1an Ferris said.
singles," Newton said.
Ferris is batting .300 (3-forThe pressure of playing in 10) with. two homers and a
front of scouts. every day does- double this. season He also
n't bother Ferris. Last summer, has walked seven times.

"I draw a lot of walks
because most pitchers throw
the fastball low and away,"
Ferris said. "If they walk me,
it doesn't seem to bother
them. They'd rather see me
running tci first than around
the bases.. Even on a 3-2 or 3-D
count, they .throw a fastball
because if they hang a curve,
I1l hit it out"
Newton praised F'enis' character.
"Every coach we've played
against commented on how
nice a kid Mike is to be
around( .Newtm'). said.
"We only have three players
· back with varsity experience
and Mike works well with
tl1em. After practice, he stays
around to \vork on his swing or
hitting.· He shows the young
The Cincinnati Enquirer/STEVEN M. HERPPICH
kids what it takes to be suc- Colerain senior Mike Ferris takes batting p"ractice
cessful."
this week at the high school.

6-7 senior forward
averaged 21.4
points and led
Crusaders to 18-5
record and
Greater Catholic
League South title. Named first-team AllOhio, shared Ohio player of the year award.
Signed with Ohio State.
·

Bombers. Named
special mention
all-Ohio. Signed with Notre Dame.

i

points and was
named honorable
mention all-Ohio.
Signed with Akron.

Gin Country

VItal
statistics:
In his 12th
( 156-144), he
bounced back
from first losing
season in four
years to lead
Cavaliers to sectional and district titles.

6-3 senior
averaged 21.5
points and led
'Mariemont to sec. tiona I title. Named
second-team allOhio.

In his
16th season
(284-86), he
directed school to
a share of seventh
MVC title and first
since 1994. 19-1 regular season lied
1992 state runner-up team for best mark
in school history.

MILWAUKEE- President Bush will throw out
the ceremonial first pitch as
Miller Park formally opens
tonight with a game against
the Cincinnati Reds.
Rain is forecast for the
first evening opener in the
Brewers' 31-year history not that fans have to worry
about the weather. The
crowning feature of the
nearly $400 million stadium
is a distinctive, seven-paneled roof that will be closed
when the doors open.
The Brewers tested
things with two exhibition
games last week before
opening the season in Los
Angeles.
"It was important to get
home and see the yard,
take the curiosity 'out of the
equation, get the butterflies
out of our systems," center
fielder Jeffrey Hammonds
said. "How is this park going to plaY.? Can we, see?
Are the fans going to come
out? So, we know all that
now.''·
The roof, which sprung
leaks during a storm following the second game, was
sealed and passed a test
when fire hoses were blasted onto the newly finished
gutters and flashing.
The final signage was
put in place and the dugouts and railings touched up

Scott Williamson sounded
halfway between acceptance
and d~nial Thursday, less
than 24 hours after learning
he would need season-ending
surgery on a torn ligament in
his right elbow.
"Mentally, it's hard to believe my season's over," said
'Williamson, who was too distraught to speak to reporters
Wednesday." ... I watched a
lot of guys faJl around me. I
never thought it was going
to happen to me. Right now
it's really hard to say, 'Hey,.
· (I'm) out for the season.' ·
Especially when my arm

feels fine. I thint that's the
toughest thing 'is for me
right now, that t could walk
out there, pickup a ball and
throw it."
·
Williamson doesn't expect
to receive any 'remarkable
results when he undergoes
further examinations for a
second opinion at the behest
of his agent, Jeff Moorad.
Williamson said he'll probably see doctors in California
sometime next week.
Noted orthopedist Dr.
james Andrews, who probably will operate on Williamson, has concurred with the
findings of the Reds medical
staff after seeing results of
his MRI examination.
"Obviously, you're hoping
it's a foul-up. But (Dr. Tim)
Kremchek's one of the best
in the nation," said William-

Williamson's feelings
again brushed
both
extremes when
he addressed
Williamson
his reputation
as a pitcher whose maximum-effort delivery would
cause arm probleqJs eventually.
He was both defiant ("I
think you could sit there and
tell every pitcher who picks
up a ball, 'That guy's going
to have arm problems.' ...
Eventually, something's going to happen") and humble
("I've had to prove people
wrong aU my lite; Everybody

said, 'Hey, lhe's going to
blowout,' and! now I have.
It's ~ind of m letdown, in a
way.).
Though Williamson said the
injury didn't occur "on one
pitch or anything like that," he
added that the full-count fastball he threw Tuesday night to
Adrian Brown that missed badly for ball four might have
been suspect.
Williamson (llso refused to
. attribute his injury, which is
technically a torn ulnar collateral ligament, to switching
between starting and relieving during his professional
career. "You can't pinpoint it
on anything," said Williamson, the 1999 National
League Rookie of the Year·
as a reliever.
Thursday morning, Williamson sought comfort by

chatting with his teammates.
"We're all going to stick
behind him and do whatever
we can do for him,'' relief
ace Danny Graves said. "I
think if we seem really down
about it, it'll make Willie feel
worse. We have to do everything we can to keep his
spirits up."
Significantly, Williamson
sought counsel from reliever
M'ark Wohlers, who underwent the same extensive
"Tommy john" surgical procedure Williamson will endure.
"Patience, patience, patience,'' said Wohlers, summarizing his advice to Williamson. "I told him not to
worry about his career but
just understand that there's
a lot of work that goes into
rehab. It gets old quickly."

oung not
feeling extra
.

.

pressure
The Cincinnati Enquirer/ERNEST CO~EMAN
Barry Larkin tags out Pittsburgh's Abraham Nunez as he tries to steal second
fhursday afternoon. The Reds won 4-1 in tl}e series finale with the Pirates.

Reds: Hit tlie .road 2-2
From Page Cl

you're doing pretty well."
Doubts arose mainly be"It's a team thing," Des- cause Harnisch is the only
sens said through inter- Red who has spent an enpreterjoutfielder Alex tire season in a starting
Ochoa. "We know we have rotation.
a good bullpen, but we
Injuries have prevented
(starters) know we have a Osvaldo Fernandez from
job to do, too." .
pitching a full year since
So far, Cincinnati's start- 1996. Dessens became a
ers ·have posted . a 2.84 regular member of the rotaERA whtle w~lkmg1 J~St tio~ only last July. Chris
three batters m 25 /a m- Re 1tsma's a roolue· Rob Bell
nings. Dessens became the . had to return to T~iple-A for
fourth consecutive starter a refresher course last midto work at least six innings, season.
lasting a season-high seven
But the Reds haven't been
innings while surrendering surprised by their starters'
seven hits and Pittsburgh's success, because they've
lone run.
seen each one pitch effec"It's a good thing," said tively for str~J~hgs.
Opening Day starter Pete
"Anybody with decent
Harnisch. "The guys will stuff who hits .hi§ spots is
grab a little more confi- going to make out. in this
dence. Every little bit league. We certainly have
helps. There's not a lot of the guys who can do that,"
pressure on the starting manager Bob Boone.
pitching. They don'texpect
"If you compare our
us to go seven or eight starters to others around
innings like on a lot of the league, on paper, there
teams, because so many are other clubs that might
guys in tlae bullpen can have more quality," said
throw the way they do. It's Wohlers, who backed up
a huge plus. If your pitch- one of the best rotations of
ers are going six or seven recent times when he
innings early in April, played for Atlanta. "But
1

with green paint,
- Tile Brewers' relievers
decid~d the visitor's bullpen was roomier, so they
switched from right-center
field to left-center, where
they can get a good view of
home runs that clear the
power alley, 370 feet from
home ,plate.
Giant posters of Hank
Aaron, Robin Yount, Rollie
Fint:ers and Paul Molitor
were hung in the atrium of
the four-tiered, 42,500-seat
stadium.
On Thursday, statues of
Aaron and Yount were unveiled on the home plate
plazil out front.
''Aaron and Yount are
two names that all fans
think of mos·t when you
mention baseball in
Wisconsin," said commis-.
sioner Bud Selig,· whose
family controls the team.
Aaron and- Yount helped
Tile Associated Press
Selig lobby state lawmakers
CLEVELAND - In 10
in 1995 to build the Brewyears, John Hart built the
ers their new ballpark,
Cleveland Indians from a
which has allowed the team
baseball punchline into a
to increase payroll and sign
power. And now that he has
young sluggers Richie
the club on top, Hart wants
Sexson and Geoff Jenkins to
to enjoy the view.
long-term contracts.·
Hart, who inherited a
The Brewers have two
team that lost 105 games in
lofty goals this season: to
1991, announced Thursday
attract 3 million fans and to ·he will step down as Clevefinished with a winning rela.nd's general manager
conl for the first time since
Nov. 1 and be replaced by
1992.
his assistant, Mark Shapiro.
"This stadium is gor"I wanted to make sure
geous," Hammonds said.
this was the right time for
"It makes you excited to
the organization," Hart said
during an emotional news
"come out here. "
conference at jacobs Field.
. "There are no hidden agendas here. It's just the right
time."
against the Reds last year.
Hart, 52, can be credited
Outllelders Jeromy Burnitz
and Geoff Jenkins homered
four times apiece against
the Reds in 20QO.
i:he arms: Haynes had a
7.15 ERA against Cincinnati
last year but somehow won
both' of his starts. Wright
had a strong effort on
The Associated Press
Opening Day at Houston,
allowing just one run and five
HOUSTON - Seattle
hits in seven innings.
SuperSonics forward Vin
The rest: Milwaukee has
Baker was dismissed from
stood between the Reds and
practice by coach Nate Me- ·
success in recent seasons.
Millan after Baker argued
The Brewers beat Cincinnati
with him over fouls called
two out of three to end the
during a scrimmage.
regular season in 1999,
Baker was unhappy Mcpreventing the Reds from
Millan made calls that went
winning the National League
against '13aker' s team during '
wild-card spot. Last August,
the Wednesday workout, the
after the Reds had won five
Seattle Post-Intelligencer reof six, Milwaukee posted a
three-game sweep at County
ported. Baker stormed off
Stadium.

for much of Cleveland's success. He is under contract to
remain with the club as a
special consultant through
2005.
Hart said he had been
thinking about moving on as
far back as two years ago.
He first talked to Indians
owner Larry Dolan last summer about stepping down but
wcmted to arrange Shapiro's
succession.
Hart would not rule out
returning to baseball as a
GM with another team.
"You never say never,"
said Hart, who lives in Florida during the offseason.
The Indians are 789-621
(.560) since Hart, one of
baseball's most active executives, became GM. Despite
the success, Hart was been
criticized for some moves
and his inability to bring
Cleveland its first World Series title since 1948.

Pete's strong. Ozzie's
throwing the heck out of
the ball. Reitsma's probably the most impressive
23-year-ofd pitcher I've ev. er seen. If he keeps his
head level, he's going to be
here for quite some time
and win a lot of ballgames.
He's extremely impressive
- not only his stuff but also
his maturity on the mound
and his knowledge of what
to do with his pitches."
That description would
fit bessens, who was 10-5
after joining the rotation in
last season's second half.
"I left some pitches up,"
he said. "Luckily, the hitters aren) as sharp_as they
are in the middle of the
season."
Dessens suffered two
bruises on his right forearm
upon being struck by comebackers hit by Brian Giles in
the first inning and Aramis
Ramirez in the second.
"Not once did I think
about coming out of the
game,'' said Dessens, who
threw 64 strikes in 98
pitches.
The Reds were thankful
for that.

Bowden
'shocked'
Reds general manager Jim
Bowden has dealt with his
Cleveland counterpart, John
Hart, as mucn as any GM.
But Bowden had no inkling
Hart was stepping down.
"I'm shocked and
stunned," Bowden said. "He
was one of the best general
managers iri baseball over
the last 10 years, ancl he was ·
a good friend and mentor."
Bowden said Hart's mark
is the way he kept the
Indians winn'1ng over such a
long period.
"He's done a great job of
putting a contending team on
the field year after year,"
Bowden said. "He was very
creative in signing young
players to long:term deals."
-John Fa1J

"It does wear on you,"
Hart said. "But it's a tough
business. No one is flawless.
You get caught in the drive
to get the last missing piece.
All ·of the decisions are
tough."

Sonics forward Baker dismissed :from pra.ctice
ties at McMillan, who virtually ignored Baker and concentra ted on the scrimmage.
Later, Baker told The Seattle Time.s he regretted the
confrontation, which he said
was borne of frustration over
the team's dim playoff chances
entering Thursday night's
game against Houston.
"I \vas frustrated, and Nate
was," Baker told The Times.
"I think of Nate as a friend, as
well as a coach. He knows my
'

"I was in the wrong completely. I shouldn't have
showed my emotions that
way."
KINGS: Sacramento activated guard-forward Nick
Anderson on Thursday and
placed rookie forward Art
Long on the injured list.
Anderson, in 'his '12th
NBA season, had been sidelined since Feb. 18 with
lower back spasms. He has
only played in 18 games

Long, signed by the
Kings to a series of
short-term contracts starting Feb. 18, has appeared
. in nine games. He is sidelined with patella tendinitis
of the right knee.
WARRANT FOR ROZlER: An arrest warrant
was out Thursday for Clifford Rozier, a former NBA
first-round draft pick and
Louisville player, in the
theft of· a deputy's car.

theft auto was issued
Wednesday. According to the
Manatee County Sheriff's Office, the car was the personal
vehicle of a deputy who reported it stolen Mareh 28. It
was found at a gas station
later that same day.
Rozier was arguing with
his brother. Cykabie Rozier, at the gas station, and
employees there called au·
thorities. By the time deputies arrived, Clifford Rozier

The Cincinnati Reds
have traded three starting
pitchers since the All-Star ·
break. The trend suggests
surplus. The truth is scarcity.
' Denny Neagle,Ron Viilone and Steve Parris were.
not.really expendable. They
w:ere just expensive. They
l!.t~,gone because the Reds
cannot afford everything
tney need and prefer to
.
. splurge on position players
and scrimp on pitching.
"At our payroll level, you
have to get a certain.
amount of perfOl1IJ:,(lhCe for :.
every dollar you ~~end;" .-__ )
said Doc Rodgers{the Rec:Js'f
assistant general manage!'; J'
· "If Y()t!'re goci~
· ingt6getiO•
wins (from a
pitcher), you
try to do it
with a guy
making
$500,000 in"
Tim
stead of $2.5
Sullivan million." ·
Twentygame winners are essentially out of reach. Mike Mussina, one of two elite starting
pitchers on the free agent.
. market, is reportedly close
to signing a co11lfr~ct With
the New YorkYankees.that -.
could pay him in excess oL
$15 million a year. That's
more than the combined salaries of the 11 pitchers who
appeared on the Reds'
Opening Day roster last
April.

-~

e_

pitchers and! catchers report to
spring training Feb. 13. D4

hopefuls'

.
.slumpI

l1C ·needs lift

..

N

. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2000

'

Lo an

pen."
·· The 22nd~ranked Bearcats
will need Logan and more
tonight when they play at
No. 24 Dayton ... _
.
The Flyers (Zcl) beat two
ranked teams ·at the Maui
Invitational. Cincinnati
comes off a 69-51 lo:;s to
Notre Dame.
"That's not acceptable for
me or this program," Logan
said.
"I've never had a team

Samford 65-55

Similar

setup,

nw Cinr:inntLti Jfnquifer

i'I'his was isainf6ra: not
Stanford. It was November
basketball, not March.
Yet Xavi~r got its blue
blood pumping Tuesday ·
night and its .young. blood
saved the day. Rookies Romain Sato nnd Lionel Chat- ·
mers rallied the Musketeers
to a 65-55 virtocy over stubborn Samfotd.
Sa to was'' sublime. He
scored all of 'his team-high
· 17 points in the second half,
· and his 16 nolbounds tied Brian Grant's single-game XU
freshman record.
Chalmers had 13 points and
added. a team-high five assists.
"They bot~ took a huge
step forward i tonight," XU .
· coach Skip Prosser said.
While it looked mortal for
35 minutes, XU (3-0) had a
stirring finish. Ten consecu, tive pgintscby Sato in a
stretch rallie4 them from a
52-51 deficit t6 a 61-52 lead,
and-XU helq, ~he Bulldogs to
one basket iri the final 4:19.
"Seventeen and 16? Man!
That's a . tat line. right.
:!junior Kevin
...

•

··''·

.•·

similllr·

.

mess-~ps

_· When Bud Selig complains about competitive
imbalance, perhaps his
most effective statistic is
as follows: The Los Angeles Dodgers paid Kevin
Brown more to pitch every
fifth day last season than
the Minnesota Twins spent
on their entire roster. '
Starting pitching is
what separates baseball's
contenders from its pretenders, and the gap is so
great now the Reds no longer focus on front -line tale[lt!mtfringe guys in special situations:-· - -··c
Case in point: Kevin Millwood. The Atlanta
right-hander has won 45
games over the past three
seasons at reasonable rates,
but he has attained arbitration eligibility following a
10-13 campaign. As a result,
his salary- $420,Dn0 last .
season- soon may exceed i ·•
$2 million.
1 ·' '
Should the Braves add •
free agent Mike Hampton•
to a rotation that already
includes Greg Maddux,
Tom Glavine and (health
permitting) John Smaltz,
Millwood could be avail_
, .
_
The Cincinnati Enquirer/CRAIG RUTiLE
able.
Xavier's David West drives past Samford's Marc Salyers ·during the first half at Cintas Center on Tuesday.
. "We've had discussions
... , West scored 10 points in the Musketeers' 65-55 victory.
with Atlanta, among the ..
otherclubs,"Rod~el'~s~irJ./f?c...:.;.;'*"":±-?"----r'-'-'--.":'c"---'--'-----~---:---------"-----------'--'-----'-"---------,---___:_~
"Let's put it this _way: That
(Millwood) is a move we · ·
would find attractive .... It
would definitely help our
chances if we could get a
Division I
guy to essentially come .in
1. Western Hills (20) 235
as a No. 2 starter to.Pete
2. Moeller (5) 183
., ":- '
(ijgrnisch)."

Boys basketball
poll

(ormula for frustration
As things now.stand,.
.the Reds' starting rotation
is Harnisch and hope...
Neagle, Parris and Villone
made 74 starts for the
Reds last season, and their
prospective replacements
are either raw or rumors.
Rob Bell, rushed up from
Double-A last year, has
more major-league starts,
at age 23, than any other
Reds pitcher but Harnisch •
and Osvaldo Fernandez.
This is a formula for frus7
tration. Though there are
exceptions, inei!Jerienced
· starting pitching is a good
way to get beat. Neither
Bell, Elmer Dessens nor
.
Scott Williamson has pitched
as many as 150 major-league.
innings in one season.
The p'ayroil-driven trades·
ofNeagle, Villone, Parris,
Eddie Taubensee and Chris
Stynes have helped to stock
the Reds' farm system, but
the team's pitching strength
is still in numbers rather
than names.
· Perhaps the payroll cuts
have been made to clear
salary space for someone
such as Millwood. If not,
the Reds may have traded
three arms for a future
with no legs; ' ...
,_·--

4

'

.

E-mail:
tsullivan@enquirer. com.

The Cincinnati flnl}uh,~i·'c:'

Defending state champs
are usually voted No. 1 to
start the following season.
But that wasn't the case
· this season in The Enquirer's Division I preseason
boys pasketball poll 1 in which
Western Hills was tabbed
the team to beat.: ·
St. Xavier,' :the Division I
defending st~te champion,
finished third: behind Moeller; Withrow artd Elder
rounded out thetopfive.
Four teams niceived firstplace votes in the Divisions
II-IV poll. McNicholas edged
Division' II state runner-up
Purcell Maria~ for No. 1, followed by Ma4eira, Roger Bacon and NortjfCollege HilL
Coach LaniUs Timmons'
Western Hills squad received
20 of 28 first-place votes
based on the return of the

entire starting lineup, which the outset as a result of the
includes three major-college Rockets' ranking.
signees: Danny Horace (Miami), Darryl Peterson (Akron) and Malcolm Andrews
But Stricker has sufficient
(Wright State).
talent,Ied by veterans Paul
First-year McNicholas . Sheehy, Geoff Hensley, Bricoach Pat Stricker, Jerry an Chin and Jarrod Lawhon.
Doerger's onecyear replace-.
ment, will feel the heat from

Prep previews
Over the next three days, The
Enquirer will preview the boys
high school basketball season:
Today: Enquirer preseason Top
10 polls
·
Thursday: Preseason top player
and players to WiltCh
Friday: Team-by-team capsules.

a 6-foot, 160-pound senior
who rushed for 1,822 yards
and scored 194 points, was
named to the Associated
. Press Division III All-State
football team Tuesday.

quit before,'' UC cqach Bob
}Iuggins said. "Ifs, a fivepoint game with five minutes
to go. I have ne-Ver had a
team just lay down and say
we can't win 'before; that's a
first in 20 years. We just
stopped playing.... We're
equally inept at both ends
right now. We're just not
doinga whole lot right."

__ Al-though Way was the(only Cincinnati player earn-1
ing first-team Division III,
recognitiqn, four Cincinnati
Division 'IV players Were
named to the first team.
Kellen Campbell, Finneytown's senior tailback who

For sheer, sustained ineptitude, the Bengals franchise
may meet its match Sunday
when the Arizona Cardinals
visit.
Arizona (3-9) may be the
one franchise that can outstrip the Bengals (2-10) for
long-term futility. The Cardinals have been at it longer,
NFL:.s..,char.teL -·- , Tl1e Ben·c

in 80
years., The
run by
the Brown family, have none
iw3? years. The Bengals do
have two Super Bowl appearances (1981, '88).
But since 1990, Arizona
and Cincinnati are the two
worst teams teams in the
NFL. The Benga:ls are
54-118 (.314 winning percentage) since 1990. The
Cardinals are second worst
at 61-111 (.355).
Consider this statement:
-"Make no mistake, the
malfeasance starts at the
top. It truly is a mom-andpop operation, with i1o outside business interests keeping it flush as with. other
league owners."
·
Cardinals? Or Bengals?
Cardinals, in this case.
T.he above passage was written recently by an Arizona
Republic sports reporter.
But it also could apply to the
Bengals, a family-run organization that won't accept outside help and hire a football
expert, such as former Steelers GM Torn Donal10e, as
general manager. The Bengals, until further notice, are
run by Mike Brown.
There are many common
threads between the teams,
starting with the presidents.
Bill Bidwill has moved his
team twice, from Chicago to
St. Louis in 1960 and then to
Phoenix in 1988.
Brown said he would move
the Bengals unless he did not
get a ·new stadium. Voters
approved it.
Bid will threatened· to
move the Cardinals if he did
not get a new stadium in
Phoenix. Voters approved a
new $335 million stadium
earlier this month.
·
Both teams have re\varded
their fans with poor football. ·
The Bengals are 1-5 in new
Paul Brown Stadium this year,
including a 48,28 loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday.
See BENGALS, Page DS

Many coaches look at the
No. 1 ranking in The Enquirer's preseason boys basketball poll as the kiss of death.
Western Hills has to bear
not only the local pressure
but also the statewide, spot· light, having received the
·.No. 1 state ranking in sever. a! publications.
Coach Lannis Timmons'
· Mustangs.received 20 of the
·: : 28 first -place votes in The
.: . Enquirer's Division I· polL
·: , Moeller was second, fol: lowed by defending state
. champion St. Xavier.
McNicholas
edged
.: , 1999-2000 Division II state
. runnerup Purcell Marian for
No. 1 in the Divisions II·IV
poll, foilowed by Madeira and
Roger Bacon. The top four
teams all received first -place
votes.
Western Hills returns 11
.letter-winners, including
three major-college pros:pects.
Danny Horace, a 6-foot-9,
· 225-pound center, has com.mitted to Miami; senior
guard Darryl Peterson is
headed for Akron, and point
guard Malcolm Andrews. has
.signed with Wright State.

Division I
1. Western Hills: In addition to the three Division I
signees, Phil Smith, a 6-6
senior guard, will be watched
closely by recruiters.
The Mustangs' only weak~
ness last season was inconsistent outside shooting. If
Peterson and Smith hit from
long range, West Hi should
have few problems against
most local teams.
2. Moeller: The Crusaders' roster is loaded with
".: :familar names, including
.some with famous ties.

Ohio State-bound Matt
Sylvester, the son of former
European pro basketball
player Mike, heads the list,
along with Tyler .Tabler, the
son of former major-league
basehall player Pat.
Jeff Silber, a 6-6 senior
who committed to UCLA for
volleyball, will play basli:etball for Moeller, as will Nicholas Monserez, the brother
of Butler point guard Mike.
The Crusaders should win
the Greater Catholic" League .
South title.
3 .. St. Xavier: Although .
coach Scott Martin's team ~S:2:.2ii:.ii:225:2¢.~'-"-"'--'-'--'---'-'-'-~__::;z:::~~~
was !llt · hard by graduation,
.
The Cincinnati Enquirer/CRAIG RUTILE
the Bombers will be competitive, Jed by Jordan Cornette Malcolm Andrews, Western Hills' 5-foot-11 point guard, has committed to play in
(Not~e Dame) and Steve Calc college at Wright State. West Hi already has three major-college signees.
!aha~ (Dartmouth).
Riley, who averaged 22
10. Princeton: .Coach for a Spartans team that also
4.' Withrow: A 15-.7 re·
and
10
assists,
will
Paul
Andrews disagress with returns Dan Huerkamp,
points
cord last season wasn't good
enough for coach George join highly touted junior Rob- the ranking, saying the Vi- Mike Meridy, Casey Land
Jad<son, and improvement is ert Hite (15.9 points), P.J. kings "lack height and depth and Andy Holt.
Mills (15 points, 7 rebounds) and have very few experi5. North College Hill:
on the way.
enced players."
Rebouding from a 6-15 sea. Blessed with a veteran and Byron Fields.
If Riley plays up to expec- Divisions: .II•IV
son will be easy for a Trojans
team, Jackson will build
team that returns Duron
around inside players Pierre tations, look for Winton
Woods
to
make
·a
run
at
1.
McNicholas:
The
Moore
(10 points), Jermel
Darden (6-9) and Raymond
pressure that goes with the Turnage (7 rebounds) and
Garth (6-6) and outside No. 1.
7. Colerain: The Cardinals No.1 ranking is hard on a Alex Kemphaus (3 assists).
shoo~ers Chris Washington
will challenge for the Greater first-year coach, and that's
6. Reading: The addition
and Will Jeffries.
Miami
Conference
titleJ
what
Pat
Stricker
faces.
of
transfers DeShawn Wynn
0~ paper, the Tigers appear
Coach
Jim
Walther
will
.
It
appea
rs
the
Rockets
and
Derrick Aden adds
to have enough talent.to climb field an experienced tearn have the ta1ent to-Jive'·up tO ·strength
and depth tO the
to the top of the polls.
that· includes Mike
Ferris
(18
their
ranking
with
Paul
SheeBlue
Devils.
5.1 Elder: The Panthers pomts, 7 re bounds) and hy (12 points), Geoff Hensley 7. CHCA: Sophomore
couldcontend-for the No..l Doug Monaghan--(H-points;-"(5 7 poiritsJ;--Briart Cliin (8 center Luke Trehz holds the
ranking, or' quickly could 6 rebounds). .
points) and Jarrod Lawhon key for CHCA which returns
·
· )
·
;
drop 1out of the running.
. If· t he supportmg
cast Of (5.5 pomts the top plners. Jay Morelock_ (12 points, 3
Coach Joe Schoenfeld will David Finney, MiChael Da·
2. Ptj.rcell· M~ -ian: assists), Jason Hunter and
field· an experienced team, in- vis, Jon Daft, Joe Bertram, Keith Jackson, a 6-5 ~~nior Sam Shaw.
. Sk 1 d D 'd L'
f
d/ '
h ' .
8 c· .
. c'
cluding Scott Benken, Mike Bnan
e .an
avt
1es orwar center w o comm1t• mcmnatt · ountry
• t ed, t ed t o-Xavier,
· mus t shoulder Day: The Ind'Jans ' st reng th
Mahon, Jake Baseley, Tim comes th
_ rough as expec
the Cardinals will flourish.
the scoring burden for a Cav- will be at guard, with seniors
Schenke and Phil Bengel.
"The team must not rely
8. Oak Hills: Although aliers team that lost four Noah Allen (19 points) and
Ma·tt Cohen (10 poi'nts).
on one or two guys to Tim Oliverio and Mike Lee starters to graduation.
3. Madeira: Coach Jim
9. Wyoming: Jeff Davis
score," Schoenfeld said. "We are the only returning start··
have a lot of returning play- ers, coach Mike Price's team Reynolds·..is two victories and Geoff Tollett are the
only returning players from a
ers who gained valuable ex- should challenge Colerain in away from 200.
Bret Underwood (14.6 Cowboys team that was 16-8
perience and had productive the GMC.
Look for part-time start- points, 6:8 rebounds) ahd last season.
suntmers. We have no major
ers Ross Wiant, Tom Price Robb Hern (13.8 points, 7.4
10. Badin: Coming off a
weal\nesses."
6, Winton Woods: Most and Chris Lipps to step up. rebounds) are Madeira's 3-18 season, second-year
9. Hamilton: The Big mainstays.
coach Fred Hesse predicts
coar::hes weren't aware when
4. Roger Bacon: Josh improvement although the
voting that DeForrest Riley, Blue have returning letter
a 6,5, 190-pound guard from winners Josh Andrews, Rob- Hausfeld, a 6-3 senior for- Rams return only Bret
Louisiana, had transfered to hie Ballinger, Nate Busbosin . ward who averaged 19 Noonan and Bret Fiehrer
and Jon Smith.
points, willbe the foundation and are Without seniors.
Winton .

UC: Ijogan hopes
to snap slump
From Page D1
UC has lost back to back
. only once in the past fiveplus seasons; that was a
three-game slide in February
1999.
Logan is hardly the· only
cause of conce.m. UC is being ·outrebounded and is
shooting only .176 from 3point range (.176). The
Bearcats have more turnovers (38) than assists (35).
Among the five starters,
, Logan is the only one averaging in single digits (8.0
ppg). He averaged- 8. 9 points
as a· freshman and 9.8 last
season.
"I just think with Steve
it's mental, because his preparation. before the game has
been excellent," LeGree
said.
Logan has come early to
practice and stayed late. He
has watched video with assistant coach Dan Peters and
talked at length with the
coaches. He admittedly has
beer. moody.
'~f everybody in the
stands sees that I'm not
shooting the ball good, you
think I don't know Tm not
shooting the ball good?" Logan said. "I'm my biggest ·
critic. I'm so hard on myself
it's unbelievable. That's
probably why I'lm not knocking down shots;; I've got to
learn how to re~lax.
"I know I'm in a slump,
but I can't p;ut my head
down. That hampens. All I'm
going to do is work my way
out of it. My game is going
to come back. I'm not giving
up. I've come too far to give
up;"
His body language tells a
lot.
Courtside observers can
see Logan's head shake or
his face contort in anguish
with each missed shot during
games. He feels like he's

against Dayton.
1!1121-4: UC's series lead-~;
since 1974-75.
lllll 9-6: UC's series lead at ·
UD Arena.
letting down the team.
"You see him shoot the
ball so well in practice:,"
backcourt mate Kenny Satterfield said. "Any game
now, he'll probably explode
for a lot of points."
Said LeGree: "You've g9t ·
to fight through it. It's going
to take some time. Yml!-ve
got to figure it out yourself.
There's nothing a coach can
tell you when you're a good
shooter and you're not making shots. He ·just has to
believe in himself."

Bethel-Tate coach Dottie
Kirker can't believe her eyes
when .she glances at the
crowded stands .between
liullngs.
.
The Tigers haven't ~d a
winning season in :five years,
nor have they won a Southem
Buckeye Conference title
under Kirker. Yet ·the
bleachers are jammed with
everyone from diligent parents to gawking middle
schoolers fresh from their
own practices.
The spectators - Kirker
included - just haven't
watched a player quite like
sophomore pitcher Ta[yn
Beck.
'
"I've never seen a pitcher
so aggressive and fast that's
so young, and we've never
had anything like that here.
We're in dreamland,"
Kirker said.
As a freshman, Beck
drew attention as the city
leader in strikeouts with
227. She pitched · 126
innings in 18 games and
walked only 26 batters. '
This year she has contin,
ued the trend, striking out
46 batters in Bethel's ·first
three wins. She already
owns every school.pitching
record, most recently
improving on most strikeouts in a game (18, in a :3-0
win
over · Clermont
Northeastern) .. ·
"I think I've grown a little
bit as a pitcher since last
year, especially because
now I know what to exp~ct
(on varsity)," Beck said .

Coach's' son out to prove h 's worthy
hard on harder than anyone
"Cutting kids is something
MADEIRA: Mustangs first
else to throve myself."
I never like, and when your. basemanKyle Fields is one of
when Dad insisted the son is involved, you want the the hottest hitters in town,
assistant coaches make final decision made by somebody less than six months ·since
cuts, lh¢ wanted no special else," Phil said. "I talked to being injured in a highly pubtreatment for Casey.
my assistants about Casey, licized traffic accident.
Cas:ey never missed a and I said, 'Don't just keep
Fields, a senior, is batting
By Tom Groeschen
weighlilUfting session during him because of me.'"
.652 (15-for-23) with . two
The Cincinnati Enquirer
the off-o~ason, but that dedicaAnd now, Casey is a factor homers and 16 RBI entering
Wednesday.
Casey Reichle is the lion wunted only so much. · for the Lancers.
coach's son. The La Salle
"Wl\l4n the coaches all did
''You always like left-handOn Nov. 18, Fields suffered
pitcher knows he must earn their final raangs, my dad had ed pitchers, and lie keeps the a badly broken leg in a vehihis keep, just to avoid the razz- me the lowest of any of them," ball down," Phil said. 'The big de crash before a Bengals
ing. ·
Casey said. "But that's OK It . thing is location, and he tries game at Paul Brown Stadium.
was about baseball, and I to do that."
A paraplegic driving a car
'He has.
Reichle, a junior left-han- understand. I had to earn it."
Come on, Dad. You are unequipped for his disability
der, is the son of Lancers head
There was some precedent proud, right?
sped through a red light,
"I just remember 10 years killing a 15-year-old Mason
coach Phil Reichle. Casey here, too. In 1991, Casey's
Reichle earned the victory brother Robb Reichle was cut ago when Robb made the boy and injuring five pedestriwhen La Salle beat Cleveland from the La Salle team team," Reichle said. "He got ans including Fields.
Villa Angela-St. Joseph 11-1 despite his dad's presence as to play some, and one day
Fields, a Division IV allduringthe season's first week, an assistant coach. Robb there was a picture in the state second-team choice as a
· in Casey's varsity debut.
Reichle returned as a junior paper of him sliding· into football defensive end, had
"It's hard, because a lot of in 1992 and made the team.
third base. I still have that surgery for his leg injury. He
Phil Reichle remains an picture hanging above my still has a 15-inch rod in his
kids think I made it just
because I'm the coach's son," objective fatl1er, as much. as desk. And now Casey has right leg.
~---Cas_e_y,_cs_ai_d_._"I_h_a_v_e_to_w_or_k_a_s_·_p,_o_s_sible.
earned his j_o_b_."---"-~~~-'-'H_e_'s_d_o~n_e_an
__in_c_r_ed_ible

LaSalleleft-hander
Casey Reichle
making his mark

job rehabbing and recovering
from his accident," Madeira
athletic director Jim Reynolds
said. "I think the doctors
thought he-wouldn't be able to
play baseball this year.· It's a
great story."
SHOWCASE: The annual
Coaches Showcase tournament returns next weekend
(April 20-21) with a new format, featuring 38 area teams
at multiple sites. ·
"I think this is the largest
Showcase we've had," said
Milford coach Tom Kilgore.
"We sometimes run into rain,
but hopefully with everything on the same weekend
we can get it all done." ·
There will be five brackets, witfi Division I schools
mostly grouped together and
Divisions II-IV playing each
other for the most part.
McNicholas artd Wyoming
will; "play up" into the

Division I bracket. .
The tournament is sponsored by the Southwest
Ohio Baseball Coaches
Association
<and . has
changed forma1ts through
the years. It was once
known as the 'Pournament
of Champions, femturing the
city's various lea1gue champions from the. previous
season.
·
This year's finals will be
at Roselawn Park on Sunday,
with five bracket champions
to be crowned at noon (two
games), 2:30p.m. (two
games) · and 5 p.m. (one
game).
.
The Enquirer will publish
the tournament schedule later
this. week.

in a way it's kind of odd to
hear. It's just me outthere.:' .
Beck has .five pitches in ·
her repertoire but thinks
her curveball is most dangerous. She isn't sure
whether her technique. ot'
speed stumps batters, or
both. Her pitches have
been clocked at 61 mph.:
Keeping Beck healthy is
Kirker's top priority. As
Bethel's only pitcher, Beck
. ·is slated to pitch every
inning for the rest of the season, and an injurywould.be
devastating to the program.
'We're dead meat without Taryn," Kirker said. !'In
the past, we. more or less
did without pitching and
relied on our defense to ;be
competitive."
Beck has seen the growing crowds and has heard
about her pitching reputation but would rather foquson a team-oriented winning
effort. She doesn't ev:en
know her ERA (2.14 entering Wednesday).
COO KIN' . UP WINS:
little Miami pitcher Lauren
Cook hasn't stopped groy.ring, literally or figuratively.
Coach Mike Frith wouldn't
be surprised if the 5-foot;11
junior tacked on a few m~hes and became a more do;minating defensive force. ·
"In the offseason, she
started a strength and coordination program that
helped her out With speed
and velocity," Frith said.
"She's still getting stronger."
In the Panthers' first five
games, Cook had 74 strikeouts in 33 innings. She
pitched three consecutive
no-hitters. Despite a 6-0 lbss
to Ross, Cook posted an
i.mpressi.ve ().55 ERA.

STATE Of MIND: State
runner-up and preseason
Division I favorite Hamilton
defeated Greater Miami
Conference foe Fairfield 5-4
in 10 innings the third game
of the year. Hamilton; last
ousted the Indians in the
regional semifinals.
Coach Steve Heckman
anticipates another strong
season from a team 1hat
graduated two seniors. Led
by junior pitcher .K;ltie
Halcomb, the Big Elue
went 4-1 in their first five
games. They face Fairfeld
again April 24.

two::
By Michael Peri'y
"It's nice to get started
The Cincinnati Enquirer
good," he said. "I've been
The University of Cincinfeeling pretty good all
nati athletic department has
spribg. Sometimes you get
a new No. 2 man: Dean Bilresults;· sometimes you
lick, the athletic director at
don't."
Lamar University in BeauEncarnacion at one time
mont, Texas, the past five
was considered one of the.
years, was hired as deputy
best prospects in baseball.
director of athletics at UC.
As a 23-year-o!d in 1999, he
"We considered a lot of
hit ·19 horne runs, drove in
people,"
UC athletic direc74 'runs and stole 33 bases.
tor Bob Goin said Thursday.
"He's got a chance to be a
"I wanted a guy with a lot of
special player," Boone said.
experience. That's what
"It takes some gHys longer
stood out. He's well-versed
to ,mature. Hopefully, he's
in athletic administration.
·
•
. .
_
The Associated Press/GENE J. PUSKAR
coming into his own;· I know .
He's got a solid background.
Reds
star~er
Jtmmy
~aynes
delivers
a
pitch
on
the
way
to
the
Reds'
3-2
victory
he's awfully dangerous."
He's going to oversee every
While Encarnacion carried over the:Pittsburgh Pirates Thursday night in Pittsburgh.
facet of the internal operathe offense, right-harder
tion of the department.''
Jimmy Haynes followed awThe obvious question:
ful:first start with an awfully
With Goin's contract expir_good second. one. · Haynes
ing June 30, 2003, is Billick
(1,1)' went 6 1/3 innings, althe heir apparent to the job?
lowing the two runs on· six
That was not the intent of
hits. He struck out six and
the hire, both said.
walked one.
"This is an associate,"
"I was able to hit my spots
Goin said. "It's my appointtonight," Haynes said. "That
ment. I don't hire athletic
was the big difference.
directors- that's not my job
The bullpen followed
- I hire assistant ADs. The
Wednesday's four innings of
president (Dr. Joseph Stescoreless relief with 2 % inger) hasn't even met him.''
nings of shutout ball Thursday. Danny Graves got the

Reds notebook

Hot hi·

callup for

Catcher was
~'::~!~~ra~~ts for his 100th. batting .421
"I never dreamed I'd get at Tri'p' le A
100," he said. "Hopefully,
·
·
-

there willbe a Jot more."
Encarnacion got the Reds
on the board with a bolt out
· toright-center to lead off the
second inning.
. "I'm seeing the ball and
hitting it," Encarnacion said.
"Sarne approach."
The lead didn't last
through the inning. Haynes
walked Aramis Ramirez to
· start the Pirates' third. An
out later, Kevin Young hit
his· second horner of the
year, driving a 0-2 pitch out
to left-center field.
·The Reds carne right back
in the fifth. Jason LaRue hit a
smash down the left-field
line. For some reason, La-·
Rue ran straight through the
first . base bag. Had . he
turned',che would nave-likelyhad a double. Haynes tried to
sacrifice LaRue to second.
But Haynes' bunt landed
, right in front of the plate.
Catcher Kendall easily miiled
LaRue at second.
BarryLarkin followeciand.
pulled a double into the left
field corner. Encarnacion
singled to left. Haynes trotte~ home, and Larkin motared around . from second
just in time to beat the throw
and make it a 3-2 game.
Bl BB so Av~·
AB R
Clndnnatl

-----

By John Fay
The Cincimmli Enquirer

Said Billick: "1 really the U.S. Modern Pentathlon
haven't given it much Association for the U.S.
thought. Bob was upfront Olympic Committee for 31h
· with me about his future years.
plans. I'm gojng to come up
Ill Sports infonnation dithere and do the very best rector at Bucknell in 1965.
job that I can do, and whatII Sports information di~
ever happens, happens. rector at the University of
Whatever talent I have, I' rn Pittsburgh in 1966, begingoing to bring to the table ning a 27 1h-year ~tint at the
and work for Bob and the school. He was associate
university."
AD and the. department's
Billick, 60, who is sched- No. 2 administrator for his
uled to start May 1, re- final 11 years and twice· was
places John Sheffield, a interim athletic director.
close friend of Go in's who
11!1 Stadium coordinadied after a battle with can- tor/consultant at the Unicer in February.
versity of Louisville for five
Goin said he was unable . months in 1993, helping lay
to put the job search "on the groundwork for the capthe front burner" until the ital campaign that raised
Bob Huggins-to-West-Vir- $14 million for. the conginia saga came to a con- struction of the school's
new football stadium. ·
clusion.
Once he focused on the . The new job is good for
task, Goin · was struck by Billick personally and proBillick's 37 years. of experi- fessionally. His mother died
ence in athletic administra- .in December, and he will be
tion.
closer to his 89-year-old fa·At Lamar, Billick hired ther, who lives just outside
former Marquette coach of Pittsburgh. Also, his wife,
Mike Deane, completed who' has worked in televithree capital improvement sion sales in Pittsburgh, Mi·projects, guided the school ami and San Antonio, has a
through full NCAA certifica- chance to return to a major
tion and eliminated a television market.
$1.4 million operating defi"Professionally, it's a
cit.
great opportunity to work
Billick, a 1963 Penn State with Bob (Goin)," Biliick
graduate, also served as:.
said. "I'm really excited
II Executive director of about it.''

The Dl

XU star
doub)les
his fun

For all the injuries the Reds had last year, they never had
seven players on the disabled list as they do currently:
Player
· injury
Date on DL
Date eligible
to return
right elbow
Jose Silva
March 21
April6
Lance Davis left shoulder March 21
Apri16
·Seth Etherton right shoulder March 21
May 30
John Riedling right shoulder March 26
April I 0
Juan Castro
left hamstring March 29
April II
Ken Griffey Jr. right knee
April8
Apri123
Kelly Stinnett right elbow
April 11
April 21

pitch, 10-ball performance
Saturday with 11/s innings of
no-hit relief Wednesday.
"Like I said, everyone has· a ·
bad day," Pineda said. Pineda struck out the side in the
siXth and reached 96 mph on
the radar gun.
"That's the way I throw,"
he said. ''My: arm was·-tight··
the last few we,eks. It's loose
now. I don't .like the cold
weather. Last night, the
weather was good." ·
Pineda throws 96 -mph
and makes it look easy.
"He's so smooth it's a
sneaky 96," Bbone said. "It
seems faster.'; ,
LARKIN ATTOP: Barry
Larkin was in' the leadoff
spotThursday .for the first
time this season.
The Reds still will allow
Larkin to nurse the strained.
rib cage muscle on his left
side. Boone plans to pull him
ifthe Reds get a sizable lead
or fall far behind
The Pirates started lefty
Jimmy Anderson. Is the
plan to hit Larkin first
against lefties?;
"I don't have a plan,"
Boone. said.
Boone is searching for an
order with Ken Griffey Jr.
out. Thursday, .it was Larkin, juan Encarnacion, Sean
Casey, Aaron Boone, Adam
Dunn, Ruben Mateo, Todd
Walker and jason LaRue .
· It was the first time Aaron Boone hit higher than
sixth in the order.
Bob Boone considered
him for second as well.
"Aaron and Encarnacion
are interchangeable," he
said. "Both of them could
hit leadoff, too."
Aaron hit leadoff as a college junior at Southern Cal.
"I set the stolen-base record," he said. "Twenty-six. Broke Don Buford's
age-old record."
DOWN ON THE FARM:
Ty Howington thr,ew a onehit game in Double-A Chattanooga's 4-1 victory over
·west Tennessee Wednesday. Howington, the Reds'
No. l pick in 1~.99, struck
out seven and walkedone.

Bakker excels ,
in teni:rls, soccer
AsSociated Press file

Coach Charlie Coles said if his Miami job: "I am
where I want to be, doing what I want to do."

Coles: Loyalty
rewarded
From Page C1
sentiment; that Miami's record must improve but that
Coles' loyal(y to Miami and
the Mid-American Conference were too valuable to
overlook.
"''m not ecstatic with
seventh- and eighth-place
MAC finishes, but I had to
look more into it with student conduct as well as the
. respect in the community
and his desire to be here at
Miami;" Ma turi said.
Maturi has made it a practice to lock up coaches' cootract issues before their seasons begin, to minimize
distractions. He already extended football coach Terry
Hoeppner's contract through
2005 earlier this year.
Coles' team faced
enough distractions this
past season, including the
dismissal - and ultimately
the reinstatement - of senior Alex Shorts in late

February, in the heart of
the MAC season.
Overall, Coles' tenure has
been successful. Since taking
over for Herb Sendek in ·
1996, Coles has guided Miami to i07 victories and two
NCAA Tournament appearances, including the school's
only Sweet 16 appearance-in
1999, after which Coles
signed the deal e.:->tended
Thursday. He ranks third in
school history for wins and is
sixth in winning per~entage
(.578).
.
"When we went (to the
Sweet 16), I had an inquiry
from anothe~ school (for a
job)," said Coles, who also
played for Miami from
1962-65. "They told me,
'You might never get back
here' and (that) I should
leave whiie I had ·the chance.
Well, maybe we will never
get ·back, but itis my dream
to (get back to the Sweet
16) and be at Miami.''

College basketball notebook·

Dixon, Terps feted
by Baltimore fans
.Doliboa denied
another year
at Wright State

thought of giving up. That's a
message the senior is hoping
to deliver to yourig P<~ople.
"Always believe ln yourself," said Dixon, MVP of the
Enquirer wire services
Final Four.
BALTIMORE - juan
WRIGHT STATE: The
Dixon looked out of his NCAA has denied <tn extra
aunt's City Hall office win- year of eligibility f'or Cain
dow, watching hundreds Doliboa, closing the 6gather to celebrate with the foot-7 forward's ca~'ee·r.
NCAA champion Maryland
"The only thing better
·
than playing one )year at
Terrapins.
The All-American guard Wright State could hr:ave been
reflected on the road he playing two," Dolibo;a said.
traveled from a troubled life
Doliboa, out of Sp11mgboro
in Baltimore to national High, transferred to) Wright
State from the University of
prominence as an athlete.
"It's a special day, some- Dayton last season.
I.
•
.
thing that I've dreamed of
A:t issue was whether
Tife Associated Press
lez, a- t_wo-t. irne American Triple-A Iowa to· take the disc1osed amount for exces- for a 1ong time, •' Dixon said. Cam
· D ol'b
1 oa, wh o suffere d
: ARPNGTON, Texas - League MVP.
roster spot of Kyle Farn~ sive arguing during Florida's "I'm from the Baltimore ar- a back injury at Dayton and
The Texas Rangers' Juan
Gonzalez had an MRI ex- sworth, who broke a bone home opener Monday. ea, and we were able to played only seven games
Gonzalez was placed on the am artd saw a hand specialist in his foot while warming Right-hander Kevin Olsen accomplish something spe- there as a junior, had been
],5-day disabled list Thurs- Wednesday, and the tear was up Wednesday;
also was suspended three cia! for the state of Mary- given the requisite five
my because of a torn muscle found in fiber between -his
Farnsworth, on the 15c games and fined for inten- land, and now I'm getting a years to play four.
ii his right hand.
thumb and index finger.
day disabled list retroactive tionally throwing at and hit- lot of support from a lot of
FLORIDA: Coach Billy
; Gonzalez was injured
"It's swollen right in the to April 10, is expected to ting Philadelphia's Marlon Baltimoreans.''
Donovan, 36, .agreed in prinyhen he was. jammed on a muscle, almost like a little miss four to six weeks. He Anderson last Friday.
Dixon spoke while his ciple to a two-year contract
ATHLETICS: Starter aunt, City Council President extension Thursday. Terms
$ving against Oakland a· pulled hamstring," general had a 0.00 ERA with two
yeek ago.
manager John Hart said.
strikeouts in 1% innings Mark Mulder left Thurs- Sheila Dixon, sat nearby be- of the extension have not be
; "It's surprising, because
The move is retroactive this year.
day's game against Texas hind her desk. She was sur- finali?.ed. The two years will
i's the first time in my ca- to Wednesday.
MARLINS: Manager Jeff after four innings because rounded by posters reading. be added on to the $6 rnileer that my right hand has
CUBS: . Chicago called Torborg was suspended for of.tightness in his left fore- "Juan-derful.''
lion, five-year deal Donovan
--"-lnwthwe::rr:~::edi.L.Jmlill:!e.-'·-·---"'slllaillld-l.lGoOan:nzz;;a'-'---'un Carlos lz~mhr:moL.Irfr:ao:o:mL-.:tJ::<U!IlTOL.<n.o.m""' ~nd fined '.,~DL.llJJJO""'-...:a"-lr:Ilmo__ _ _ ~------J?,_i_x_on__said he never . sigr~ed in 2000.

Baseball notebook

Sore hand puts Rangers' Gonzalez

011

DL

By

Shannon Russell

Tile Cincinnati E1lljllirer

During fall soccer season,
Xavier student Rob Bakker
longs for an open eourt and a
good game of Atlantic 10
tennis. When spring tennis
season arrives, hi~ imagines
the thrill of Muskies men's
soccer.
Bakker spends ·his time
juggling academics with Division I soccer and tennis, and
he wouldn't have it any other
way.
"It seems pretty normal to
me because I've been playing
· these sports all my life. I
don't know what I'd do if I
didn't have them -' I'd probably have too much free
time," Bakker said.
Bakker doesn't just cornpete in soccer and tennis; he
has set Xavier athletic -precedents. He's the first male
athlete on record in 20 years
to compete in multiple
sports, and he's the first
male athlete in school history to win all-conference honors in two sports.
Bakker earned first-team
Atlantic 10 honors last
spring after posting successful tennis records in singles
(15-4) and doubles (10-6).As
a rnidfielder, Bakker earned
another all-conference firstteam honor in the fall after .
contributing two goals and
10 assists.
Tennis coach Jim Brockhoff said chances are good
that Bakker will be firstteam all-A-10 again. Bakker,
Xavier's No. 1 singles player, is undefeated in Atlantic
10 singles play (5-0). He'll
compete in the Atlantic 10
Tennis Championships starting today in Pittsburgh.
"This has been our goal all
year - to win the conference
- and I think we have a
legitimate shot at it," he
said.
A native of Beverwijk, The
Netherlands, Bakker originally committed to Xavier to
play soccer for coach Jack
Hermans, also from The
Netherlands.
Bakker struggled to give
up tennis, and eventually, he.
sent Brockhoff a video showcasing his tennis talent in
hopes of land1'ng a spot on
the team.
"As soon as I saw that
tape, I couldn't wait for him
to get here," Brockhoff said.
"It's such a delight to
watch him play. Besides having talent, he has that desire.
He doesn't want to lose."
Bakker has a bachelor's degree in management and will
graduateinMaywithanMBA..

Call yourresults in to 'rhe Enquirer at
768-8452. Call after 6 p.m. weekdays,
noon on weekends.
THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER

B6 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1,2000

/

Boys basketballl200~-2001 preview
GREATER MIAMI
CONFERENCE
outlook: This looks to be a
very exciting season at the top of
the league. Riurteams received a
preseason first-place vote, with
Colerain narrowly getting the edge
as favorite.

l Colerain (3) ....~. 72
The cardinals finished 11-n last
season but are loaded with talent
Seniors Mike Fenis (18 ppg, 7
rpg) and Doug Monaghan (11
ppg, 6 rpg) are coming off excellentjuniorseasons and should be
ready to step up even more.
Senior David Rnney (5 ppg, 5
rpg) and junior Michael Davis (5
ppg, 3 apg) need to go from complementary pla)ers to leaders.

2. Hamilton (3) .... 68
Hamiltonwill use speed arld
defense to overcome a lack of
Size.
The Big Blue return three
starters, including Josh Andrews
(12.4 ppg,) one of the top guards
in the area. Junior Nate Rusbosin
(6.2 ppg) should improve after
starting as a sophomore.

3. Milford (1) ...... 58
The Eagles' fourth-place finish
last season was the schoors highest since joining the GMC.
Coach &nie House will rely on
four returning starters and six letterwinners.
·
Senior guard Adam Meranda is
the leading returning scorer at 13
points a game, while 6-foot-8
senior center Zach Strief averaged
eight rebounds per game.
Senior guard Anthony
Robertson (3 apg) should
increase his scoring average.

4. Oak Hills (1) ••.•..49 .
The Highlanders return two
starters and three others who've
started at least one game.
lim Oliverio (12 ppg, 7 rpg) and
Vlike Lee (4 ppg) are the team
eaders, but the strength here is
:lepth. No player will dominate.

Outlclok: McNicholas coach
Pat Stridker will start his varsity
coaching career on the hot
seat - the Rockets are picked
as the team to beat in the GCL
North. ·
·
Kettering Alter is expected
to challenge McNicholas with
Division· II state runner-up
Purcell Marian given an outside
chance.
The league outlook with
co ache?' votes:

4. Roger Bacon ....20
The Spartans may be the
most underrated team in the
GCL, but have four returning
starters.
Josh Hausfeld, a 6-foot-2
junior, averaged 19 points a
game .and was im Enquirer ailstar.
The other starters: Dan
Huerkamp (4 apg), Mil<e
Meridy Jr. (8 rpg) and Casey
Land (6 rpg)

1. McNicholas (2) ••31 .
The Rockets have six returning lett~rwinners, but Paul
Sheehyiis the key.
..
Sheehy, a 6:foot-2 guard,
was honorable mention aiiSouthwestDistrict after averag.ing 12 points and four
rebounds a game. He made
54 percent of his field goals,
80 percent of his free throws
and 42 percent from 3-point
ran!Jl.
Brian .Chrin (8 ppg), Geoff
Hansley (5 ppg) and Jarrod
Lawhon (5.5 ppg) and Bryan
Cupito (4 ppg, 2 apg).
Stricker, an assistant under
Jerry Doerger the past 10
years, takes over this season
as Doerger sits out a suspension.

Coming off a 3-18 season,
the Rams are Undergoing a
Paul Sheehy (25) of McNicholas is a key player for
. youth movement and will rely
the Rockets this season.
strictly on sophomores and
juniors,
have all performed well in pre- ond in the state in Division II
, Bret Noonan is the only
season scrimmag:ls and will fill last season bullost seven sen- returning starter while Bret .
three of the vacancies created iors from that team.
Fiehrer also lettered. ·
by graduation.
The Cavs do return the best
Juniors David Mergy, Chris
player off that team - 6-5
Sutton and Zach Marcum·
swingman Keith Jackson;who
played well during preseason .
has committed to play at
scrimmages.
The Cavaliers finished secThe Cincinnati Enquirer/MIKE SIMONS

Adllm Waleskowski is the
Knights' only returning starter,
but he's a good one. The 6-8
Walesl<owski, who signed to
play a! Rorida State, averaged
12.7 points and 13 rebounds
per g;:1 me.
;,
. .
His supporting cast ;s big,
quicl< and strong.
Jeff Penno (6-5), Troy Jones
(6-4) and Doug Pen no (6-5)

3. Purcell Marian (2) 26

Outlook: There's seldom a
season: the GCL South doesn't

ed team anchored by Matt
Sylvester, a 6-foot-7, 180-

G.uard Steve Callahan, an
excellent outside shooter,

front line.
It's the guard positions that

Today the Enquirer takes a look at the upcom-.
ing girls basketball season. Each league outlook
has coaches' first-place votes .(If any) in parenthesis. Total points follow each team.
The schedules and rosters for each team can be
seen online at enquirer.com beginning today.
The league previews were compiled by the
Enquirer sports staff.
M~AMI

VALLEY CONFERENCE

Ouiloolc: There is a logjam at
the top of the MVC, where three
schools received at least one
vote as the preseason conference favorite.

seasons, and it has a seniordominated group with which to
do so.
·
Nick Dyer (14 ppg, seven
rpg) Is a returning all-league
performer. Topher · Sheldon
returns after scoring 10 points
per game last season. The team
will have seven seniors and
only one sophomore.

l ll!®rth College Hill {4)

Veteran
coach
Ralph
Kemphaus, who has 341 career
victories, last season suffered
his first losing season (6-15)
Seven Hills is bracing for a
since 1975-76. It was only the drop after going 15-1 and winsecond losing season in 25 ning the league last season.
years for NCH.
This team has only four senBecause of transfers, injuries iors and will play four sophoand eligibility problems, the mores. David Sprafka and Dan
core of the team was seven Lin are expected to step up and
.sophomores. They should bene- be leaders.
fit from the experience.
Nine of NCH's 13 players
started at least one game last
St. Bernard looks a have a
season, led by guard Duron
Moore (10 ppg), forward Jermel better season than the 7-13
Turnage ( 7 rpg,) and. guard Alex record (6-10 in the MVC) from
a.year ago.
·
Kemphaus (3 apg.)
NCH has depth, quickness
and experience but still lacks an 7~
outstanding go-to plqyer. ·
First-year coac~ Kevin Lakes
thinks New Miami can build on
last season, despite winning
only two games.
~ay
A trio of returning seniors
be the focal point of the
ceo returns two starters - should
both guards -from <l team that team: forward TylerTusing (9 ppg,
finished a close second in the 5 rpg,) guard Thomas Roberts
(6.3 ppg, 3.2 apg,) and guard
league last season.
.
Noah Allen (19 ppg) .shot 40 Mike Hampton (7.3 ppg, 1.7
percent from 3-point range steals per game) are experienced.
If New Miami can win some
while Matt Cohen (10 ppg, 6
of the close games it dropped
rpg) can also play down low.
Guard Danny Gardiner is a last season, it can break its
transfer who could make an streak of eight consecutive losing seasons.
immediate impact.

i'fighlar\dets"iirsrseason·inlfflF·· -~- ~ ~Y·f!'SIIIlli~largtrt,>Maeller' .:,:
lea@.ie.
· edged St Xav;er ancl Elder for
the No. 1 spot, with La Salle
design~ted to the cellar for the
second consecutive season. .
EXperience will be a strength
The league outlook with the
for aThunderllawks team that
coaches's votes:
returns 10 seniors, three of whom

5. Lakota East ......47

have been varsity pla)ers the previous two seasons,
Jonathan Woods (9 ppg, 5 rpg,
2 apg) leads the senior @tlup,
along with Stephen Graves.and
lim Day. Craig Williams (8 ppg, 6
rpg, 3 apg) tore his ACL during the
football season, but could be able
to contribute by February.

6. Middletown ......44
With six lettermen returning,
Middletown is another experienced GMC team. Seniors Leroy
Adams, Kelven Moss and Kevin
Helvey will lead the backcourt. 6-5
junior Mark Robinson will man the
paint

7. Lakota West......34
'Aest will need 15 ~ng;ters to
~ up quickly if it's to mati::h last
season's second-place league finish. ·
David Hutzelman (3 ppg, 3
rpg) is the team's top returning
pla)er a.nd will have to make the ·
transition to go-to guy. Despite the
inexpertence, there is hope :the
'N squad went 16-41astseason.

7. Princeton ........ 34
Princeton lost the key compo-:
nents of last season's league
championship team. Including
Erik Daniels, who is now playing
for Kentucky.
Chris McGrath (7 ppg, 3 apg),
a reserve capable of playing the
point or shooting guard, and 6-5
forward Marc Jones (4 ppg, 2
rpg) figure to be the team's top
threats, The Vikings could get a
boost from 6-3 Regis Heams, a
transfer from Woodward.

9. fairfield............ 19
The Indians return several key
players from a competitive team
from a year ago. Eight of the
Indians' 13 losses last season
were by six or fewer points.
Rrst-year coach Matt Wissman
will rely on seniors Brian
carpenter (11.3 ppg,),,Kevin Ruhl
( 7.6 ppg, 5.0 rpg) and Billy Tegge ·
(3.8). Each player saw signiflcant
playing time last season.

10. Sycamore........ 15
Sycamore is one of the few
teams with significant size- seven
players stand taller than 6·2,
including 6-5 inch, 240-pound
senior Nick Baker.
First-year coach Rob Matulla
says the team will work hard, but
may lack the experience and outside shooting needed to climb out
of the cellar

·-;;·MdtngrTylel"'lalJie~ff"':l~-=:mamnsitte;-OlJtliWithout-seye~ar- ·Mollen-aM]unlllr.JififVolp1l.~.
Silber, Scott Byrnes, N;ck .
players fromlast season's ]lin· ·
·
Monserez, Sean Mahoney ahd iorvai'sity stepping up, the
transfer Clint Nagel to to the
Bombers could struggle
list of experienced players
against GCL opponents.
Coming off a 10_11 season
makes a very potent squad:
and being picked to finish last
·
· .... ·'
·
in the GCL may be the motivauon the Lancers need to take
The Pa.nthers, who return
It to the next level
·
Repeating as Division I state five experienced players and
However, coach Dan
champions will be a tough task three promising juniors, appear Reming's team has only three
for a Bombers team that grad- to have the talent to make a
seniors (Doug Kruthaupt 13.5
uated three starters and four
run for the tiUe.
ppg, Andy Bucheit 8 ppg, Jeff
key substitutes·. · ·
Scott Benken, a 6~6, 200Hyle 3.5 ppg) to build around.
·Jordan Cornette, a 6-7,
pound senior who averaged
The Lanpers wi)l be a good
200-pound senior who signed . 9.2 points and 5.6 rebounds,
shooting team but will lack a
,with Notre Dame, will shoulder Tim Schenke (&6) and Phil
big man in the middle, along
·· much of the scoring burden.
Ben@l (6-7), give Elder a big . with depth.

INDEPENDENTS AND OTHER SCHOOLS
South ll!l~Wi$i®B'i
OuUook: Defending South
DMsiori co-champions Middletown
Rmwic~ and Talawanda are expected to oattle for the title again, while
Franllllri has an outside chance to
coriten~.

. 1. Tai.awanda {2) ......18
Ryan Holmes, the Butler
CountY· Player of the Year last season, Is the Braves' pnly returning
startnr. As a junior, he averaged
16.4 points, five rebounds and
more than three assists.
Jamal Stirtmire, a transfer
from ·Columbus East, gives
Talaw!lnda another proven player
to go with seniors Mark Cagwin,
RustY Bennett, Jesse Tharp, Tate
ProW!? and Josh Barker.

North Division
Outlook: Four returning
starters is the main reason why
Springboro is picked to battle
defending league champion
Dayton Carroll for the title. ·

1 Dayton Carroll (2) .18

Dethroning the Patriots will be
a tough task with senior .center
Marc Ring dominating in the
middle.
Point guard Nate Littlefield
Fenwick has experience, controls the tempo and runs the
heigiJt and speed. · .·
defense out front.
coach Pat Kreke's team
returns Charlie Martin ,(8.4 ppg,
9.2 rpg), Joe Kreke (10 ppg, 4.9
Career assists leader Damon
apg),, Tony McCormick (5.6 ppg, Francis, along with his brother,
3.0 iliJPg) and Matt Bums (10.2 Jason, will provide the offense for a
ppg,.:3.1 rpg) from a16-8 team. Panther team that will also .feature
Greg Westbeld, Cole Ellis, Drew
l.F~anklin
Benseler and Randy Johnson.
Thiis could be the season. the
Wildicats make a nun at the MML
The Vikings could play the role
title. Vhe WiJtJcat.s have eight senof spoiler with Barry Coleman ( 15
iors, led by Josh Miller (6-6).
ppg), Matt Muncy (12 ppg), Zac
Huffman'(6 ppg, 3 rpg), Thomas
Horton (7 ppg, 5 rpg) and Quincy
First-year coach Mark Gaffney,
a former Xavier University asSis- Moore (8 ppg) returning.

L Fenwick (2) ..........18

l Springboro {2) ..J.8

•••••••••••••••.12

3. Miamisburg ..........9

4. Lemon M®nroe ......7

tant coach, inherits a team with
two experienced guards, Jeremiah
Dayton Stebbins will try to build
Wolfe and Sean McMonigle.
Wolfe averag:ld 7.6 points and on its 7-13 (4-9 in the MML) re@J2.8 rebounds while McMonigle Iar season a year ago.
averaged 6. 7 points and 4.3
rebounds.

4. Dayton Stebbins:

5

law!l'enceburg

Cincinnati
Christian
Transfers Marques Irving
and Rundle Brockman will
join returning veterans Tim
lowe and Josh Eernlsse to
form a team loaded with
quickness; depth, balance
and leade'rship.

West Carrollton looks to improve
The Rocl<ets roster
on its 5-15 (3-10 in the MML)' . includes 10 seniors, with
Former Fairfield coach Dave record last season.
Tim earlier, Kyle Icard and

1: lr.llo: ·

OB.

Todd Murray the players
who must take it to the
Coming off a winless next level.
season,. the Wildcats will
rely on five returning players, including KTC allleague selections Ben
The Tigers graduated
Prewitt. ·
Jeremy Lansing, the seven seniors and face a
quarterback for the· foot- rebuilding season. Senior
ball team, has joined the Casey Moreillon is ready to
squad and should help ~ssume the leadership
along with sophomore role.
Luke Roy, Rueben Moore,
Adam Ha.mm and Adam
Kasten.
Middh~town

SCPA
Former Woodward High
and Univerity of Dayton
standout Chip Jones will
be at the helm of a Raiders
team that lacks height,
experience and proven
players.

Whiteoak·
First-year coach Pat
Hines (former Mariemont
head coach) inherited a
team with seven veteran
players that claimed the
school's first district championship last season.
Return starters Ryan
Barnett and Justin Michael
will lead the way for a
team wh.ose tallest player
is 6-foot-3. This lack of
size will be offset by speed
and make Whiteoak competitive in the Southern
Hills League.

·.team, that finished fourth mt.he
league and reac~ed the th;rd
round ?f the sect10nals. .
Semor Allen Walker and JUnior Raymond Biesbr~ok are the
only return;ng vars;ty players
from last season.

9.l.andmarkChristian n .

Coach Eric Coulter thinks 6Four freshmen and three
foot-7, 220-pound Luke Trenz
could be one of the best sopho- sophomores received quality
minutes on a young team
more big men in the area.
last season, so expect this
year's version to be :much
improved. ·
Zach Ellis (9 ppg) and
Summit hopes t\:l snap its Andy Sasser (4 rpg) should
streak of four consec;utive losing be the leaders of the team.

4. Smmrt Comity Day 40 .

CINCINNATI H.lllS lEAGUE
Outlook: There is;n't a doubt
Madeira is the tearni to beat in
the CHL as the Mustangs are the
unanimous choice to repeat.
However, Reading alld Wyoming
can't be counted out of a race
\hat could go down to the final
week.

1. Madeira (8) ~..... 64
The Mustangs hav'.l the best of
both worlds: a strong inside game
and excellent outside shooting.
Bret Underwood {14.6 ppg,
6.8 rpg last season), Rob Hern
(13.8 ppg, 7.4 rpg) and Brandon
Konieczka (5.4 ppg) will handle
the inside duties. Junior Dan
luther, a 6-foot-5 center who
averaged 12 points and 8
rebounds for the JV team, also
will contribute.
Point guard Steve Tudor, the
son of former Oak Hills coach
Sonny Tudor, has excellent shooting range and can penetrate.
Adam Burch (7.3 ppg, 4. 7 apg)
also is a capable scQrer.

tion, coach Chuck Grosser's
Wildcats will rely on several
untested players, including freshman Mark Hawkins and sophomore Ryne McCormick.
lithe Wildcats are to challenge
for the league title, seniors Zac
Busam, Cory Davis,· Drew Riehle
and Ryan Smith must step up
and provide leadership.

Outside shooting could be a
problem for a Yellowjackets team
that will be strong on the inside
with Alex Thinness· (8 ppg, 6 rpg)
and Tim Kroeger (4 ppg, 3 rpg).
·····~
·. Ryan Richmond (5 ppg, 3 apg)
Football star D~S}ilawn Wynn, is the only senior guard and wll.l
6-1, 210 pounds, ts. expected to need to provide leadership until
play a major role for.· coach Rich several promising tuniors · and
Bensman's team.
sophomores gain experience.
Another transfer, !Berrick Aden,
a 6-5 sophomore, i$; expected.lo
~
contribute along wilth veterans
·
The
Braves
not
only
have expeKenny Brady, FranHiie Edwards,
Pat McGinnis, Craig \Wilking, Andy rience, speed and decent height
Brinck, Scott Lawsolll and Keith but aIso Wally Vickers,
Sycamore's former coach who
Hersch berger,
tumed the Aviators around. Grady
Rogers (10 ppg, 5 rpg), along
with Andrew DeBord, must play
Although Wyoming graduated key roles for the Braves, who must
six seniors who accounted for 56 adapt to Vickers' agreesive style
points a game, the Cowboys will of play.
field a strong team with the addition of football players Pat Dennis
(6-4, 240) and Scott Guttman
The Wildcats went 2-19 last
(6-5, 210).
Senior guard Jeff Davis (4 ppg, season but will be vastly improved
3 apg), 6-6 sophomore Geoff with four starters returning. Senior
Tollett, junior P.J. Pope and junior guard/forward Justin Dennis (14
John Gale add depth to an ppg, 6 rpg, 3 apg); Cqry Burke ( 10
ppg, 5 rpg), Brandon Hickey (6
already talented team.
ppg, 4 rpg, 4.5 apg) and nm
Rovekamp (6 ppg, 5 rpg) give
Deer Park enough talent to pull a
·
A team decimated by adua- few s~rprises.

2. Reading

...... 53

1. Indian Hill.... ..... 23

3. Wyoming .......... 49

8. Deer Park.......... n

4. Finneytown........ 35

_

No surprise:

overtime.
Barry took a 1-0 lead in the
first half off a Jenny Nilsson goal.
NKU's Adrienne Cavender (Turpin) tied the game with two minutes left in the first half off an
Amanda Trout assist.
Less than a minute into the
second half, Trout gave NKU a
2-1 le~d with a goal off a Tricia
Ruark (Seton) assist. At the 51minute mark, Betsy Moore
(McAuley) scored on a penalty
kick. -Jeanna Martin (Seton) and
Ruark added two more goals· to
hand Barry its first loss.

Tiger voted
PGA's best
Enl]uirer staff, wire reports
JACKSONVILLE, Fla.- Tiger Woods was voted by his peers
as the PGA Tour player of the
year Thursday after setting new
standards in major championships
and money, and providing unforgettable shots along the way.
It was the third time in the past
four years that Woods won the Jack
Nicklaus Award, the most of any
player since the award began in
1990. He earlier won the PGA of
·
America player of the ·year award,
which is based on points.
Tour members selected Paul
Azinger for comeback player of
the year after he led all the way in
winning the Sony Open in Honolu/ lu, his first PGA victory since_he
was diagnosed with lymphoma in
his shoulder in 1993.
Michael Clark, who won the
·John Deere Classic, was voted
rookie of the year.
1111 In Thousand Oaks, Calif.,
Sergio Garcia, nestling his iron
shots within .close birdie range
most of the day, crafted a 7-under
65 Thursday to take the lead in
the Williams World Challenge.
Woods, host of the 12-player
tournament, was tied .with Fred
Couples at 68.
·

NKU soccer in title game

The Northern Kentucky University women's soccer team
(21-1-2) beat previously undefeated Barry University (18-1)
Thursday night and advanced to
the NCAA Division II championship game at 1 p.m. Saturday.
NKU will play UC-San Diego,
which defeated defending national
champion Franklin Pierce 2-1 in

Agassi in Masters semifinals

last with the Chicago Cubs.
Negotiations for ,a contract extension are at a standstill, and the
two sides remain far apart. But
· Sosa's agent, Adam Katz, said
Thursday he's still optimistic
they'll reach a deal.
"Sammy wants to stay; they
want him. He's an important part
of the club," Katz said.
Sosa, who turned 32 on Nov.l2,
is signed through next season and
will make $12 million next year.
He's believed to be looking for· a
six-year deal worth around $100
million. The Cubs, though, have
offered a reported $l 7 million.

LISBON, Portugal - Andre Rockies talk to Neagle
A
· li d · hi
d
DENVER - For the second
gassJ re e on s game an
some help from the others to . time in three days, the Colorado
reach the semifinals of the Mas- Rockies spoke with a high-profile
ters Cup. Marat Safin didn't even left-hander. Denny Neagle, who
have to play to advance.
lives· about 45 minutes west of
· Agassi beat Yevgeny Kafelni- Denver, met with Rockies general
.
kov 6-1, 6-4 in. an impressive manager Dan O'Dowd on Thursperformance. And when Gustavo day. The ·meeting came two days
Kuerten defeated Magnus Nor- after O'Dowd flew to Houston to
man 7-5, 6-3 in the last match recruit free f}gent Mike Hampton.
Neagle went 15-9 with a 4.52 ·
Thursday, the mathematics of the
. round-robin format gave Agassi a· ERA for the Reds and New York
Yankees la:;;t season.
place in the ·semifinals.
Safin was assured of a place in
Jesse Owens awards
the last four when Alex Corretja
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. beat Lleyton Hewitt 3-6, 7-6 (3),
Olympic champions Angelo Taylor
6-3.
·
Today Safin plays Pete Sampras. and Stacy Dragila were selected
If the 20-year-old Russian wins, he Thursday to receive the Jesse
will become the youngest player Owens award as the year's outstanding track and field athletes.
ever to finish the year as No. 1.
Sampras has to beat Safin to
Dragila .won the first Olympic
advance to the semifinals of the women's pole vault title and broke
season-ending tournament, which the world record five times. Taythe American has won five times. lor, 21, won the 400-meter hurIn case of Safin's victory, dles in Sydney and was part of the
Kuerten, his only challenger, will winning 1,600-ineter relay team.
not be able to collect enough
points to dislodge the Russian Ducks lose Rodgers
from the No. 1 spot.
Cincinnati Mighty Ducks right
wing Marc Rodgers was placed on
Sosa wants to stay Cub
injured reserve Thursday with a
CHICAGO -- Sammy Sosa · torn anterior cruciate ligament
doesn't want next season to be his (ACL) in his right knee.

Outlook: Selecting Winton
Woods as the team to beat in .
the FAVC Buckeye Division was
an easy decision by league
coaches.
Coach David Lumpkin's
Warriors not only return four
letterwinners but· have also
added DeForrest Riley, a versatile 6-foot-5 forward/ guard
who
transferred
from'
Louisana.
Anderson should pose the
biggest challenge to the
Warriors, while· Mason could
develop into a contender.

LWinton Woods (6) 62
The Warriors graduated 11
seniors from Iast season's
Enquirer coaches' poll Division
I championship team that went
20-0, but are still talented:
Enquirer All-Stars Robert
Hite (15.9 ppg) and PJ. Mills
(15 ppg, 7 rpg) return and will
be joined by Riley, who averaged 22 points and 10 assists
last season.

2. Anderson (2) ....55
The Redskins return three
starters from a 10-10 team,
the best of which is All-FAVC
guard Kenny Riddell (14 ppg,
4.5 apg). J.D. Collar and Steve
Kosky also started.

3-point range.
Amelia lacks size and
needs a point guard to
Greg. Richard, who has a emerge.
63-43 record in five seasons,
must mold a young team if he 6. Glen Este ••••••••••28
hopes to extend the school's
This senior-laden team will
streak of winning records to be quick and deep, but l.acks
11.
.. size and strength on· the
The Comets must rely ·on boards.
three seniors 6-foot-6 Tyler
Enquirer all-star Mike
Crain, Jon Culp and Nate Clyburn (9.3 ppg, 8.5 rpg,)
Decker.
Mike Rieck (8.3 ppg,) and
Chris Tieke (7.2 ppg) will
Harrison •••••.••••••
have to lead if Glen Este
Six letter-winners return wants to climb in the standfrom a Wildcats team that ings.
went 7-7 in the league.
Northwest..........
Paul Volkerding (10.9 ppg)
.
and Mike Myers (38% 3-point
Hit hard by graduation,
shooting) are two of four jun- the Knights will play a fastiors who received varsity play- break offense and full-court
ing time last season. The press to offset the inexperiWildcats play only two seniors. ence •.
Junior swingman Ryan
·Amelia· ..............
Kelly is the only returning
Two starters return from a starter from last season's
Barons team that finished 11-11 team.
second
behind Winton
Turpin ..........,....~.11
Woods last season.
Senior captain Matt
Short on experience and
The Cincinnati Enquirer/MIKE SIMONS
Smith will be joined by size, the Spartans are quick
· Robert Hite of Winton Woods looks to pass at a recent
Ryan Gladwell (11.9 ppg) with good perimeter shooters.
practice. Hite was an Enquirer all-star last season.
and Ron Scott; an outJunior Nick Maull (10.5
Coming off a great summer all-time leading scorer and standing shooter who aver- ppg, 2 rj)g,2 apg) was second
· AAU season,! Chris Norwell, the current Northern Kentucky aged 12.1· points while team aii-FAVC as a sophobrother of Adam, the school's University player, should also shooting 42 percent from more.

3. Mason!l..-. ............43

· 4.

·

35

7.

5.

20 ·

34

8.

fORT ANCIENT VAllEY CONFERENCE: Cardinal Division
2

44

Outlook: Loveland was a
Wilm"lngton ..........
near-unanimous . choice to. •
defend its league title with
The Hurricimes have the fireWilmington, Lebanon and Ross power to unseat loveland.
.expected to be in a three-way
They return .their top three seerbattle for second.
ers, including two-time AII~FAVC ·
first teamer David Washington, a
Loveland
averaged
This team returns only one
He'll be J'oined by a pair of
double-figure scorer from last th
·
·
'
1
· h'1p . Hinman
ree-year(9.6starters
in JUstin
Ryan
seasons
eague-champ10ns
ppg) and
team, but he's a good one. Kevin Wilson (10 _6 ppg).
, ,
Schapp~ll averaged 21 points,
If several promising juniors
3.5 assists and 5.3 rebounds a emerge, .Wilmington will give
game as a sophomore.
· Loveland all it can handle .

12-10 last season and expect to
be even better this year.
· Senl·or Brandon Wagner, who
averaged 10.8 points and 2.1
ass~sts; is the top returning player.
J~nto~ Warren Sizemore averaged
SIX pOints and three rebounds per

MGtching last seasons 10-12
record may be tough for a team
that lost six of its top eight players to graduation, including its
top four scorers.
Eddie Pritchard (3.2 ppg, 2.2
rpg) is the only returning starter.
Senior Steve McConnaughey
(1.1 ppg) was last year's seventh
Go·she·n·
man but should benefit from the .
•
................
·The Warn·ors have been the· increased minutes.
doormats of the FAVC for years,
but second-year c?ach Mike
• 0rw00 ............
Young ,hopes to ?UIId on last
_It could be a~ other long seaseasons 10-10 fimsh. .
son for an lndtans team that

6

23

8 N.

d

8

,·.-,.~n~e~~~(of~~a:~~~~,a~~~--.3~··l-elrcJ110~·~~······;~~~;~u~-~~llif~~~:~~d-g,.~~de:~R:r~~g~e~al~~~~~ti~~~1~~;~ii~~=~1:S:~~·~"·
should improye after playing,
The WClnioJS Will be i!Jung and ·is the best outside threat
·
points arid nine rebounds per
supporting roles last season ... · _ine>periencedafterlosingfuurstartels.
•
game. Junior Nate Blevins (7
If the Tigers have a drawback, They still may be able to stretch their
Kmgs ..................
ppg, 5 rpg) also will contribute.
it's a lack of. varsity experience streakofwinningseasonstoeighl,
The loss of 10 senior's from
among its front-court players.
Lebanon needs big seasons last season's 13-9 team will be

26

5.

.

.

SOUTHERN: BUCKEYE CONFERENCE

QUEEN CITY CONFERENCE

Brad Mallon (2 ppg).
Look for Batavia to be an outstandOutlook: nie voting was close, with ing shooting team that is very pthletic
defending NatiOnal Division champion but lacks size on the inside.
Bethel-Tate edging Batavia and
Georgetown as the favorite to win the
Georgetown
league.
Four-year starter Craig Waits and
two-year starter Mike Foster are the
Bethel-Tate
only players with varsity experience
The ligeJS have much work to do on a roster that includes six sophodespite being. the pick to win the mores and four juniors.
league. They lost three key starteiS to
graduation rrom last seasons league
Williamsburg ..........
champion and this yea(s team has only
Coach
' Pat Dubbs has only; one
three senioJS.
starter
back,
but the Wildcats roster is
Andy Hesketh, a 6-foot-1, 175
·
pound 5\)nior who averaged eight points filled with upperclassmen.
Guard
Chad
WClrd
averaged
nine
and five rebounds last year, must take
over the leadeJShip along with Matt points per.game. He'll be joined by five
playeJS who are 6-3 or taller.
CUnningham, a defensive specialist
Williamsburg ligures to get a boost
from
senior fOrward Mike McKibben,
Batavia
.who missed last season with a kriee
After starting last season with six injury. He was a starter as asophomore.
consecutive losses, the Bulldogs came
on strong, winning nine games down
Felicity ......................
the stretch, including1Wo in th.e sectionThe Cardinals could play the role of
al tournament
Senior Matt Faris (10 ppg, 7 rpg, 3 spoiler in the SBC behind Brad Hatfield
apg) is expected to p!INide leadeJShip (10 ppg) and Clay Moran. However,
fur a Bulldog team that also returns coach Jon Crall's team must use speed
Matt Wilson (7 ppg), Brian Hennessey and outside shooting to offset a lack of
(5 ppg), Jantsen. Dunn (6 ppg) and height.

Outlook: Although 'Mlstem Hills and Withrow
are picked to battle fur the championship,
Woodward and WCllnut Hills Hills won't f¥J down .
without alight
With three playeJS already commiting to major ·
colleges, and a strong bench, Western Hills also
claimed the No. 1 ranking in 7he Enquirer's
DMsion I poll.

National Division

3.

1.

(2) ........24

4.

2.

(2) ........21

J2

(2) ..............22

5.

forward, will be one of the key
players, along with Ben Moore.
All starters are. 6-foot or taller·
and quick,with good ball handling skills.

LWestern Hills (4) ......;...~.......39
Mustang coach Lannis Timmons sounded a
warning that shouldnt be taken lighd}(
'The kids haved executed well and played hard
in preseason scrimmages; Timmons said. 'Unlike
last season, they're not concerned about who
scores or worrying about playing time. They just
want to win:
The core is three, playeJS who have signed to
play college balll Darryl Peterson (Akron), Danny
Horace (Miami) and Malcom Andrews (Wright
State).
Phil smith and Michael Hadnot also are in the .
starting lineup.

appealS to have the tools to challenge Western
Hills.
The ligeJS have plen1y of quickness despite
having seven playeJS who are 6-foat-3 or taller.
Chris Washington (13 ppg, 5 apg) and Will
Jeffries (13 ppg, 9 rpg) were both first-team allleague playeJS.
.
The Cincinnati Enquirer/CRAIG RUTILE
6-8 ce~r Pierre Darden (8 ppg, 8 IJlg and six
American Division
Derrick Haithcock, a 6-3 sopho·Western Hills' Darryl Peterson goes
blocks) was honorable mention al~league.
more guard who averaged six points,
Outlook: After finishing second in will team with Zach Bloom, Matt
6-6 Raymond Garth (5 ppg, 5 IJlg} will also through dribble drills at a practice.
the .American Division · behind Marischen, Tyler Walker and Clint
contribute.
·
class academically, will run the show.
Hillsboro last season, Clermont· Williamson.
Norell Williams (13 ppg, 13 rpg) will be in
Northeastern is favored to win.
The Indians' strengths will be
~
a. ••••••• ~
charge of grabbing the boards and making the outDefending champion Hillsboro is depth and size.
Amove up to Division I may hurt the Bulldogs' let passes needed to keep this team on the move.
expected to challenge the Rockets,
record, but if their four freshmen can adjust,
while New Richmond has an outside
New Richmond .....
they'll still make some noise in the QCC.
Mount Healthy .........~..........
chance to disrupt the standings.
· Adriel Makonnen (10.2 ppg,) Alex Armstrong
The same players who led the
Mount Healthy looks to improve upon its 7-13
(8.9 ppg,) and Raymond EdwardS (5.6 ppg) are record (5-9 in the QCC) from a year ag:J.
Uons football team to a 10-0 regular
the top returning playeJS.
season lead the way in basketball.
There's good reason why the
The Bulldogs also have fOur playeJS who
Matt 'Godsey (5 ppg, 5 apg) will .
Rockets were picked tO prevail.
transferred into the program, including .BJ.
team with Matt Armbruster, John
Coming off a single-season McMonigle and Bret Wiseman in an
The Big Red faces a rebuilding year after
Walker .from Hughes and Mike Daniels of
school record 18 wins, coach Ken' effort to overcome a lack of experilosing its entire starting lineup and returning
Lockland.
Tracy's team returns four players who ence early in the season.
only three lettermen.
combined to average 32 points.
The top players should be seniors Muneer
4.
Walnut
Hills
.........................
Two all-league players, lan Lafferty 4. Western Brown ......
Salaam, Brandon Williams, Jason Hargrove
The
Eagles
will
be
,
a
smaller
squad
than
(13.4 ppg) and Justin Holthaus (7.4
and Carl Whitehead.
·
·
usual, but depth and quickness make them danThis is a Broncos team that could
· ppg), will team with John Thacker
Coach
Mark
Brackman
will
have
to
guide
gerous.
(6.1 ppg) and Jake Allen (5.2 ppg). surface as a contender.
his
team
through
a
difficult
schedule
the
Returning lettermen Lawrence Wilson (8.3
Danny Williams, a move-in from
.The only apparent weaknesses are
Big
Red
plays
six
of
the
top
10
teams
in
ppg, 3.5 apg), Eric Robinson (8 ppg, 2 apg, 4.1
a lack of senior leadership and size Piketon, where he averaged 15
DMsion I.
rpg,)
and
Reshon
Bonner
(4.
7
ppg,
3.5
rpg)
will
points, gives coach Bill Garrett an
with no player taller than 6-foot-4.
need to. take on larger roles.
impact player who is capable of turn8. Aiken .~ .......•.~~..•.........•............9
'
llsboro
(2)
15
ing
around
the
program.
2• Hl ·
..........
Richie Patton (10 ppg, 4 rpg) and
This will be avery )Uungteam, but one with raw
Although the Indians lost four point guard Dustiri Hutson (3 apg)
Without aplayer taller than 6-3, Taft will want to talent to work with. ·
starters to graduation, coach J.J. also will play key roles. The Broncos
Lamont Robinson (9 ppg, 3 apg) and Chris
run, run and run some more.
Moberly is confident the fiVe return- lack height but are ·loaded . with
Guards BrandonTumer (12 ppg, 4.7 apg) and Tayior are the only senioJS on ateam that could play
senior Dexter Daniels (5_pJ)g, ~:a apg), No. 1 in his three freshmen and fOur sophomores on vaJSi1y.
'· ·l_ng=-l_ett_e_rw_i_nn_e-'-r5_c'-'an_g:_et_i_td_o_ne_._...:q:!:u::::ic.:::kn=ess=·:. : a: .:.nd=-··.: :.ex!:.pe:: :ric: :en:: :c: : ed:.Jpr.:.:layers=:: .·

3. Woodward ....... ..........

3.

.13

6.

:.15

1 Cletmont N'eastern (2) 17 .

7. Huglles ·························~·······.11

11

.21

5. Taft •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••.18

Today?s; number: $10,000

Griffey trade: Ayear later
Evidence
New controversy: A report that the Reds
had put Ken Griffey Jr. on waivers causes ·
Bengals need a stir- a~d. hot denials of talk the club

aveieranQB

Akili Smith was driving
;vest on eastbound G Street
ll'hen he ·was pulled over by
Jolice Thursday morning in
ian Diego.
Could have happened to
nyone. It was 1:37 a.m.,
fter all, and one-way
treets.cim be tricky in
road. daylight They can
et nick:ier, too, after a coule of cocktails.
When Smith emerged
om his 2001 Mercedesenz Si:)300, the officers on
.e scene. picked up the
:ent of akohol on his
·eath: They subjected the
incinriati Bengals' $56 milm quarterback to a field
>briety test and then
;corted him to the county
il, where he failed a
breath test
and was
booked.
This.is not
the sort of
story a footballteam
wants told
about its preTim
sumed savior. It is,
instead, a
story th<jt
:hould jJrompt the Bengals
o start stockpiling suitable
tlternatives.
Wbefe have you gone;
icott Mitchell?

iullivaii

~ot giving up

on Smith

It m_aybe several sea;ons before we know
Nhether,Smith's arrest was
>youthful indiscretion or a
.varning of worse. Yet Mike
Brown & Co. can ill afford
to waitfor that answer.
They should assume
Smith remains as callow
and clueless as he appeared
last season.TI1ey must act
as if they have no quarterback they can trust.
''\Vhen something like
this happens, it's naturalto
wonder,". said Jinl lippin- ·
cott, the Bengals' personnel ·
authority. "If I did it, it
would be natural to ask how
much confidence they've
lost in me. It shows a flaw."
Lippincott remains
Smith's staunchest advocate within the Bengals'
executive branch. He
defended the decision to
draft Smith in the face of a
terrific ti·ade offer, and he
opposed' the decision to

The final g<!llie in Moeller's
original gym will stand as one
of its most memoCrali~le.N l
Senior center nt. age
.put
back
shot in
· traffic
in athe\nissed
final second,
giving Moeller a 42-4 1 victory over Elder Friday night
before a sellout crowd that
included most of Moeller's
basketball history.
More than 150 former
. varsity players and seven of

-

Editor: Julie Engebrecht. Phone:(513)768-8381

the school's eight' varsity
coaches witnessed a game
• that puts Moeller (14-4,\8:2 .
· Greater Catholic League
South) w1"thin a· g. arne 'o·f
clinching its first GCL South
· title since 1998. ·
"I just knew I had to get
in position in case something
happened," Nagel said of his
thoughts when Nick Monserez put up a shot from the

rim, we win."
Elder stunned the crowd
by recovering from a 38-34
deficit i!l the game's final
two minutes. The .Panthers
fir st got a s hort Jumper
·
from
Tim Schenke and then, following a Sylvester miss, Elder center Phil Bengel got
an offensive rebound, scored
and was fouled. His foul shot
Se~

MOELLER, Page D2

Tern

need
tr' . .

.: .

VIctorv
.
rJ

i

·Owls not us~~d.
to this position

,.'

By Neil Schmidt
The Cincinnati Enqnirer

·cHndled

Welcome to town, Temple. And to the crossroads.
It's where Xavier sits each
February, anxious about its
postseason plans. But the
Owls, who visit Cintas Center today for a nationally
televised game, are unfamiliar with this ·uncertainty.
Temple has made 11 consecutive NCAA ToumanJents,
16 of the past 17. At 14-10
(8-2 Atlantic 10), it begins
today a three-game tour of the
A-ID's best: at XU (8-2 A-10),
at St.Joseph's (8-1) andat
Massachusetts (8-2).
·
"We know this stretch is
pretty much going to determine our postseason (destination)," Temple junior
guard Lynn Greer told reporters Thursday dter a
91-58 beating ,of George
Washington. ''Temple always goes to the (NCAA)
Tournament. We're never
out nf it."-: Temple's problem is facing a team with both a ranking and resolve. The

Oak .Hills, Batavia

each earn share
The Cincinnati Enq1tirar
Oak Hills and Batavia
each clinched shares of their
respective leagues Friday
night.
·
Oak Hills beat host Hamilton 51-43 in overtime to
. inJprove to 1J-1 in their first
year in the Greater Miami
Conference.· Mike Lee
scored nine points in overtime despite playing with a
sprained ankle. Oak Hills can
clinch the league outright
If d
with a victory over Mi or
or Princeton.
Batavia clinched at least a

share of the SBC-National
with a 60-51 victory over
Georgetown. Craig Henne!!- ·
sey made seven-of-eight
fourth quarter free throws ~o
seal the outcome. Batavm
~b=h-Smith-lasl-fallrLip---- •.. closes--SBC jll4-ag ,u.u;u..._
pincottis convinced a
Bethel-Tate.
intent on reuv1.utu.Ja)(
-+-uu.Lu .. a ..heartbreaking.. .loss .....: ___
_young quarterback )earns
The Miami Y alley c_qnferc.
more by doing than by
ence was not decided on FriWednesday at St. Joe's. ·
watching, ·and he believes
day night. The contest be"We can't afford to lose, not
tween 'Cincinnati Hills
Smith still represents the
if we're going where we W(li]L
Bengals' long-term solution. Christian Academy and Cinto go," XU junior Kevin Frey ·
That said, the Bengals'
cinnati Country Day was
said of XU's NCAA hopes..
best short-term solution is
postponed due to moisture
A loss would make this the
to sign a veteran quarteron the floor. CHCA will win
first time in five seasons XU
the league outright with a
back as Akili insurance.-.
has multiple home losses;
soiT_Jeon~ who can step m if
victory, while CCD can pull
XU has won 57 of its last 60
home games. It would be just
Sm1th fads to st~p up. Th~ . into a first-place tie. A make~engalshave srud they w11l
up date will be decided later.
the second time XU suffered
s1gn such a player, but the
Loveland clinched a secback-to-back losses since
only quarterbacks they
ond straight Fort .Ancient
February 1996.
hav_e un.der co~tract m:e
. Valley Conference Cardinal
And it would drop XU to
Sm1th and the n~expenDivision title with a 79-52
fourth place in a league likely
.
to gain only two or three
'enced Scott CoVJngton.
VICtory
ovet... K"ngs
1 . Kev1·n
NCAA bids.
No talks with Mitchell
Schappell led the Tigers with
"It's too critical - at
19 points.
home, on national (TV)," XU
'The obvious candidate is
Senior center Bret UnMitchell; who started three
sophomore David West said.
derwood scored 19 points
of the Bengals' four victo"We need this one."
and grabbed 10 rebounds to
ries last year yet has had no
XU, 32nd in the RPI, is in a
lead No. 3 Madeira to a
serious negotiations since
three-way tie for second in the
63-56 victory over Deer.
the season ended. If
A-10 with Temple (46 RPI)
Park.
unsigned, Mitchell
and UMass_ (7 ~). Don't rule
Ripley clinched the
becomes a free agent
out
the Owls. Two seasons
Southern Hills League with a
March2:·
ago, they started 6-6 but end73-45
victory.
over
West
"I haven't tall,ed to anyed up.in the Elite Eight.
·Union.
one at all," agent Tony .
· "I'd be very surprised. if
Agnone said Friday. 'That
Ill! High school coverage,
we could make (NCAAs),"
surprises me a little bit.. It's
Temple coach John Chaney
02-3
not mi.e of those things that
said. "We've stumbled in
keeps ine up at night, but
could have wori."
games
usually, if you want a player,
A seven-game losing
you make a concerted
streak, Te\llple's longest in
effort before the free agent
25 seasons, wasn't the worst
Keyword: Preps
period starts."
of it.
·
Find the latest prep
The Cincinnati Enquirer/BRAND! STAFFORD
The plice of persuading
news and scores, plus a
Western Hills' Danny Horace shoots over Withrow's Raymond Garth during the first quarter Friday night at the
a player to forego free
look back at the season at
See XU, Page D4
agency. Is often prohibitive,
Shoemak~r Center; Horace scored 20 points and Darryl Peterson added 23 as Western Hills won 79-67.
Cincinnati.Com.
and the market for Mitchell
rriay not require the Bengals to act hastily. Given
their saliiry cap room, it
might be possible to .
upgrade the position with a
different free agent. Given
Smith~s salru-y, though, the
Bengals may be reluctant to
said. "The winning gave us
bid boldly for another quarBy Michael Perry
confidence."
teJback
The Cincinnati Bn.quir(fl"
Thus, Mitchell might not
But they have stumbled
There are a couple things
recently, losing three of.
be the.be.st man available,
When: 4 p.m. today
·
When: 1 p.m. today
"
Southern M)ssissippi coach
their last four games, includ~
but he.!Ilight be the best fit
Where: Hattiesburg, Miss.
Where: Rupp Arena, Lexington
James Green ,could not have Records: USM (16-6, 6-4 C-USA), Records: Mississippi State 12-8
. "I talked to Coach (Dick)
ing to Tulane, the second~
LeBeau.at the Senior Bowl," anticipated:
uc (15-7, 5-4)
(3-6 SEC); Kentucky 14~7 (7~2)
lowest rated team in the
1. His team's 10-1 start, TV: Ch. 19
Agnone said, "and I asked
TV:Ch.64
leagu~. Wednesday night.
including a November victo- Radio: WlW-AM (700)
hinJ flat-out about Scott. He
Radio: WSAI-AM (1530)
The Green Wave 'Shot 43
ry over then-No. 15 Arkan· Preview, D4
said h(?d'!ike to have hinl
free throws in that game.
sa,;, the school's first win
back, and,Scott would like
· USM has dropped to
to stay there. He's obviously over a ran!ked team since .when that happens.
Golden Eagles seemed to No. 67 in the RPI and has
January 1991.
enjoyed his time there. He
"We needed .to learn how have a good shot at a third ~he worst strength of sched2. His players' struggle
likes the. organization. He.
berth, with a 15-3 record ule among C-USA teams
win after we won."
to
The Associated Press/PAUL KIZZLE.
with success.
likes the,team."
(114).
(5-2 Conference USA).
Southern
Mississippi
(16-6,
NASCAR
drivers
Dale
Earnhardt
(left) and his son;
"We've
never
won
16
, Plu9, ,he doesn't drink.
Southern
Miss
is
11/2
"We
were
a
team
that
was
Dale
Jr.;
take
a
break
Friday
afternoon
during the
6-4"C-USA),
which
plays
host
games at this point in the
games _behind National Diviopening day of practice at Daytona International
hungry,
really
hadn't
proved
to
the
University
of
Cmcinnati
year
and
had
everybody
E-mail:
Speedway. The two front-row positions for the
talking about us and saying today, has been to the NCAA a lot and felt like we needed sion leader Memphis. UC
tsullivan@enquirer. com.
Feb. 18 season-opening Daytona 500 will be
how good we are," Green Tournament only twice - and to, and I thought our guys (15-7, 5-4) is one game bedetel:mined today (1 p.m. Ch. 19, 45). 05
said. "Well, people start to not in 10 years.
were focused and played well
IIIII ESPN, NASCAR in dispute, 05
put a target on your back
Just two weeks ago, the through that stretch," Green
1

St. Xavier bounced back
from a . three-game losing
streak. and kept its Greater
Catholic League South title
hopes alive Friday night.
The Bombers,· rated
No. 6 in the Enquirer's

r bonn

l

'

coaches poll, got 14 points
from Mike Grogan in a 59-41
victory over LaSalle at St. X.
St. Xavier remains
one~half game behind firstc
phice Moeller in the GCLS.
Grogan, a senior guard,
scored six points in the second quarter to help give the
Bombers the lead for good.
He was the only St. Xavier
player to reach double figures.
Grogan shared game-high
· scoring honors with Doug

Western Hills, the No.2
team in the Enquirer's Division· I coaches poll, took an
early lead and never gave it
up, cruising to a 79-67 victory· over Withrow Friday
· night at Shoemaker Center.
Senior swingman Darryl
Peterson scored 23 points
and senior forward Danny
Horace added 20 for the
Mustangs;
'
"Our strategy was to go
inside as much as possible,"
said Western Hills coach
Lannis Timmons.··
Honic'e and Peterson
teamed to score 13 of Western Hills' 15 first-quarter
points. ·
"We wanted to take ·highpercentage shots and hit the
boards," said Horace, who
also had a game-high 11 rebounds.
"We wanted to take it to
them," said Peterson. "We
were focused."
Withrow was led by Pierre
Darden with 14 points.
WESTERN HILLS (79) - Andrews 3 II 17,

time. Tim Schenke hit one
free throw to break the tie
and Elder, ranked No. 5 in
The Enquirer's Division I
coaches poll, never trailed
again.
Kroeger came off the
bench in the second quarter
for Elder to go nine-nine
from the field for a gamehigh 22 points. Scott Benken and Tim Schenke each
had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Panthers.
Jordan Cornette led
No. 6 St. Xavier with 17
points.

MatheV>.V$, 69, died of
complications of pneumonia,
said hi§ ;son, Eddie Jr.
MatheWS was one of baseball's
greatest third basemen. 00

·Kobe Bryant took the last
shot, the three from the
corner that would have won
Jt for the LA Lakers. Two
Indiana Pacers came f!yillg
.at his face. Beneath the ·
basket, Shaquille O'Neal
was shouldering Sam
Perkins like a bale of hay.
Bryant never looked for · ·
O'Neal, who shouldn't take
it personally. In j:he last two
minutes, Kobe didn't look
for anybody. His last shot
missed. Indiana beat the ·
defending world champions,
llG-109.
"We missed our last
couple shots," was Shaq's
take on the
final few
minutes. "We
were just
shooting
jumpers."
"I thought
I had a pretty
Paul
Age: 49
good look on
Car: No.3 GM
Daugherty that
last one,"
Goodwrench Chevrolet
Kobe
Place of birth:
Kannapolis, N.C.
·decided. .
Personal: Wife, Teresa;
· "Do you want the ball at
children: Kerry (ARCA
·the end?" someone asked
driver), Kelly, Dale Jr.
O'Neal.
(Winston Cup driver),
"I sure': do. I've been
Taylor.
.
saying that all year."
Career racing earnings:
To which· Br-yant replied,
$41,411,551
'They plugged the lane."
Nickname: The ·
And so it goes with the
Intimidator
Lakers. It must be hard
defending a title when
Care~r
.you're also a case study for
·Psychology 101. ·
Winston Cup
Tension is human
champion: 1980, '86, .·
Shaq is tl1e reigning Man. '87, '90, '91, '93, '94/
Owner of three Winston
Kobe is the Man wannabe.
Cup
car~: Dale Jr., Steve
The NBA allows only one
Park, Micl1ael Wa)trip
Man per club. It's in the
Americall Driver of the
rules.
Year: 19fJ7, :94
The Lakers would be a
whole lot better if O'Neal and Winston Clip Rookie of
theYean1979
Bryant ditched their egos
Only drivor to win
and acted like tean1mates.
rookie of the year and
Play nice. Don't fight Share.
.a Cup championship in
'Ibis is what we say.
back-to-back seasons:
But think about it Would
1979 and '80
you?
. , .·
First Winston Cup
You're at your omce,
start: Mayi25, 1975,
where you share a tii:le with · · Charlotte Motor
a colleague. Only, you think
Speedway;i earned .
$2,425 as he finished
you:re better than he is at
22nd in World 600.
what you do, and you've got
First victory: April
the record to prove it Plus,
you've·been around longer . 1,1979, Bristol Motor

Editor:Julie Engebrecht. Phone::(513)768-8381

/'
Risky 'racing:
The way he
·lived and died

Earnhardt

file

DAYTONA BEACH,
Fla. - Dale Earnhardt got
his wish. He wanted more
drama in the Da:ytona 500.
To get it, he agreed to more
danger.
This is the deal race
drivers make. To fill the
stands, to inlprove the
spectacle, they push the
envelope with escalating
risks. Because Daytona was_
too dull last year; Sunday it
was too deadly.
Less than 25laps after a
harrowing 21-cat·crash- an
accident exacerbated by
NASCAR's technological
tinkering Earnhardt was
killed in a last-lap, head-on
collision with a concrete
wall. The superman of stock
cars was 49 years old, seven
times the Winston Cup
champion and, in the
estimation of NASCAR
Chairman Bill
France Jr.;
• . .
.
.
.
. The Associated Press/GREG SUVINO
"the greatest
Dale.Eam~ardt'scar (31 grazed §terling Marlin's car (not pictured), crashed into the wall at the fourth turn going abOllt 180
driver in the
mph\oind was hit by f<E!h Schrader (36). The accident happened a half-mile from the finish of the NASCAR season-opener.
history of the
sport." .
Dale
Earnhardt
raced cars the
way Jim
·.
~~f:· .. ,
bumps .and .• bold challenges,. unexpected· Brown ran
ii · - ··He,~ommanueu.•c: -·~ ~ftertheraceivas·over,
oet:·t:>;
it?' "' ·-·
moves
and
even
an
obscene
gesture
to
a
.
with
a
football
--+
as if daring
2000. Winston 500,
You'reyoung and gifted.
.greenwokie. .----. ~-;-·-·-·-·'""Opptmerrtsi:u-ctosshispath;.-f-··-·-·
.
1h,~ard~things
didn'tlook
Talladega,
Ala;
.
You spentayear deferring
· Some 200,000 fans W1tnessed Earn- He protected his position ·::::
First driveb to reach
to your colleague's Man- ·
very good but, man, . hardt's
17te Associated Press
black No.n 3 Chevrolet slam into a with all the subtlety of a ·
$30
millioh
in
earnings
hood. Now you want yours.
wall and careen into the infield during an 3,00(}-pound straightarm.
Earnhardt.
You
figure
he'll
(1997)
:
DAYTONA·BEACH,
Fla.He
was
That's Kobe. Can you
First driver of any kind: . The Intimidator, the Man in Black, and bounce right back. Your first accident on the last lap of the race. A few Rival Rusty Wallace called
blame him?
hours later came the terrible news. At age him "Ironhead." Race fans
to
appear on a Wheaties right to the end, Dale Earnha~dt was every
We're questioning O'Neal
49, possibly the best-known figure in refe~red to him, with awe
cereal
box'
thought
is,
hey,
he'll
probably
daredevil
who
drew
miibit
the
brusque
and Bryant for attitudes as
.•' :i : -·: :;_ -.--;·);~·:·:. :·:·
motorsports history was gone.
and reverence as, 'The
•:.Jions to his sport.
human as tears. You try .
come back next week at
"My_ heart is hurting right now. I would Intimidator." '
·
•
·
Earnhardt,
the
driver
people
either
staying magnanimous when ·
In NASCAR's rise from a
loved or hated - but had to watch either ·Rockingham and beat us all.' rather be any place right this
you don't think you're
num~ers··
way-'died
Sunday
at
the
Daytona
500,
a
regional
circuit to national
Jeremy Mayfield, NASCAR driver
getting what's due to you.
race
he
spiced
up
with
his
trademark
prominence,
Earnhardt was
See
EARNHARDT,
P"'ge
02
·
·From
Dale
Earnhardt'~
Especially if you're rich and
Winston
Cup
career:··
its
most
promiri~11t
star. He
idolized and used·to getting
won 76 races on 'the Winston
:1
..
your way.
Dale Earnliardt
· NAS\';AR driver Cup circuit, including the
Number gfDaytona '500
O'Neal played seven
Jr. (right) ahd
Kyle !petty 1451 199.8 Daytona 500, and·
wins (1988)
seasons to win a ring and an
his ,father
fs hl!1gged by
pocketed more than $40
MVP award. He comes back
watch from·
·6
Dal~
million in prize l;!lOney. He,):·~·
this season, he's just renting
Place on NASCAR!si'
···the pitarea
.E;arn'hardt (3)
guessed not long agotpatM,
space in Kobe'swodd. Kobe
all-time win list, eight
on Thursday.
befo:re .the
had four or five good years : ~
works harder than anyone
.behind C~le Yarborough
Junior, who
Daytona
500.
.
left
in hinl. . .· . .· .· .· . . . 'iii!;.,
in the offseason. His talent ·
finished·
Petty is driving
He looked
his .oldse1f•
~1.
shoots off him like sparks.
Most
wms
m
one
second'
to
his
son
.
•
Sunday,
fendillg.off
passes
Plus, he can shoot a free
season (1987)
... A.d. a"'·
·
with forcefu.l.blocking·, ·
Michael.
... scar.,.
throw. He wants his turn at
Waltrip at the
Adam was • - · leading the racefour times
17
playing king.
Daytona 500
killed iri a
'before: crashing lessthari a
Number of different
If the Lakers had a third
mile from a third-place
on
Sunday,
tracks
Earnhardt
won
last·
crash
wheel, it might be easier. As
at during his career
rode with his
year during a
it is, Kobe and Shaq own the •
father in the
Busch series
show. Everyone else is
26
See SULLWAN', Page 03
ambulance to
practice
furniture.
,.
Number of years
the hospital.
session in
on circuit
Iii! No drivers seriously hurt
New
Jackson no factor
in crash that involves
34'
Hampshire.
Number of victories for
21 cars, 03
Phil Jackson, the Zen
Earnhardt at Daytona
Man coach, is paid lots of
Speedway, the rnost of
Daytona
money to figure this out
any driver
16: Number of years Michael
But Jackson never had this'
· Wall!ip has' raced on the Winston
problem in Chicago, where
Cup circuit
The Assolliated Press
Longest!race. streak
there was never a 1 and a
friend and his new car owner, thought we could.
protected by Earnhardt Jr,:
463:
Number of career Winston Cup
without
a
VIctory,
.
lA,onlyal.
DAYTONA BEACH, was killed in a last-lap crash.
Waltrip started 19th in the and the elder Earnhardt, who ·
starts
it
took
for
Michael
Waltrip
to
snapped ~hen he won
The closest comparison
Fla. - Minutes after: tillting
Waltrip got the best 43-car _field and mtwed into fended off a series of challeng·win his first race ..., Sunday's 500
Dayto~a in 1998
to Shaq-versus-Kobe was
chance of his career over the contentJon ~fter a laite 21-car. ers . as the t . d to
1::':
Number
of
years
it
took
Waltrip's
the
checkered
flag
in
the
paywinter
when Earnhardt hired wreck, taking the lead .for;,:, ,, . . Y ne
Magic and Kareem. Abdul.
~6
older
brother,
Darrell,
to
win
Daytona
tona
500,
the
great&'st
·
moWaltrip
as a teammate to Dale good 16 laps from th'e (:pd. / :;;;their own last::lap,battle.
Jabbar resented Johnson's
·Numb:ecof wins.
161.783 mph: Average speed for
ment in his career; ·.Michael Earnhardt Jr. and Steve Park
fame. The difference was,
"I could n~ver have won
"I couldn't believ-e it was
428
.
winner
Michael
Wall!ip,
16
mph
Waltrip
was ali butforgotten. on Dale Earnllardt Inc.
Magic passed the ball. .
playing
out,"
Waitrip
said.
"I
'without
Dale Jr,,·• he added.
slower than the race record set in
Elation over his first victo"l thought it might be too finally believed I was going to "I could never.hav;e wonV{ithNobody in the league can
.1980
ry in: 463,/starts tumedto bold or &ragging to say .we win with five to go."
guard O'Neal straight up,
· out 'the belief. of Dale St?'
49/14: Number of lead
·
gtief as word came th~t Dal~ ·could win it in ourfirst race as
lhrough most of theJate·
..:_.:_'·''-"--_;_~4.:..:
which oug}itto qualify him
~h~r>a~><>i m mber of different race
·Earnhardt, Waltrip's longtime a team/' Waltrip said. "But I going Waltrip1s flanks were
for hands-doWn. Man-hood,
On Sunday, O'Nealworking
.
against the 9QG-year-old / ·:

highlights

~r::~~:~Jy~

th~~~r5~aq.i~n·t

•

oone1 ored 'Intimidator'

c•

.ang. ,,

attention, peers'respect

··Notal!lltr···

like

m.nnbers

59

Waltrip's grea

day fades in k

set up

'

Perkins was borderline ._ ·

criminal. Jermaine O'Neal
had a little better luck, by
tlrawing Shaq away from the
basket But O'Neal
outweighs O'Neal by 95
pounds. Wben Shaq caught
the ball in thepost, he ,-swatted Jermaine like lint
Shaq didn't touch the ball
the last two minutes. Kobe
had it, attached to his pahTI.
A reigning Man could get'
annoyed.
But a young Man could
feel it's his time to shine.
This won't be fixed
anytime soon.

Contact Paul Daugherty at
768-8454; fax: 768-8550;

e-mail:
pdaugherty@enquirer. com.

.

a:r'cats lose lead, game in OT

By Michael Perry
The University of Cincinnati blew a golden opportunity Sunday night to own one
of the best records in Conference USA play.
Instead, the Bearcats
squandered a 14-point firsthalf lead, lost to Marquette
66-63 in overtime and. now
need help if they ani to win a
sixth consecutive C-USA
regular-season title.
The Bearcats (17-8) saw a
three-game winning streak
The Cincinnati- Enquirer/CRAIG RUDLE
corne to an end. They are 7-5
UC coach Bob Huggins yells at his players during overtime. in .Conference USA and tied
,The Golden Eagles outscored the Bearcats 10-7 in OT.

with Charlotte for second place
in fue American Division, one
game behind Marquette. UC is
also one game behind Mar. quette, South Florida and
Memphis for the best record in
the league.
Marquette (13-10, 8-4)
defeated UC for the second
time this season.
When UC junior Steve Logan hit a 3~pointer with 5:18
left in the first half, it put the
Bearcats ahead by 30-16.
Marquette trailed by nine
at halftime but outscored UC
22-9 to open the second half.
Brian Wardle's. 3-pointer
with 12:40
left gave the
.

Marquette...• 66
uc . . . . . (On 63

,

t i.;."'

they stopped rebounding.
The Golden Eagles' next
three baskets carne off offen"
Next:
St Louis
sive rebounds. It
UC, 8:05
p.m., at
. . was 53-45
Wednesday (No1V)
with 8:03 remammg.
Notebook: JUCO
UC trailed by eight with
recruit visits. 04
'lfiJIJii!JJJ,~ 6:56 left, fuen made a i:nove.
_:_:___:__ _ _ _ _ _--....-- Immanuel McElroy hit a..
Golden Eagles their first lead pull-up jumper. LOgan ·mad~: ,
at 45-43. After Logan was two ·free throws. Kenny Sat~ :
short on a jumper, Mar- terfield hit a floater in fue lane.·
quette got a short baseline
Marquette was running:
hook from Scott Merritt for · time off the clock on each :
a foUF-point lead.
possession but wasn't get~·
The Bearcats kept rnisfir- ting any baskets. After B.J.
ing. They were 3-of-15 from Grov,e made 1 of 2 free
the field in the first 11 minutes of the second half. And
See UC, Page 04

t

C

'

....

~'------

•

02 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2001

Area powers . start;
road to ColumbUs
B.Y·Dave SCh0tte

The Cincinnati Enquirer

Winton Woods is The Enquirer's coaches poll champion following its 20-0 season,
but beginning Tuesday,
those credentials won't mean
much.
"It's like starting over,"
Warriors <mach David Lumpkin said referring to the sec~
tiona! boys basketball tournament.
Undefeated for the second
consecutive season, the
pressure will be on Winton
Woods to avoid another early
postseason exit. The Warriors lost to Hamilton in the
second game of.the sectional
last year. . . · '·
"A lot · ot'people spoke
about us getting. beat by
Hamilton in last year's. tournament," Lumpkin 'said.
"They said we were medioere but Hamilton had a tremendous tournament run
and played good basketball at
the right time."
However, the road to the
final four in Columbus will be
tough, not only in Division I
but also in Division II and IV
where the majority of the
state's top · 10 teams are
from Southwestern Ohio.
"In my opinion, any of six
or seven (Division I) teams
from Cincinnati could win
the regional and go to
state," said Moeller coaeh
Carl Kremer, whose Crusaders won the Greater Catholic
League South championship.
"We have a great group of
seniors and we're pretty
confident. I truly believe our
league is the best in Ohio and
to win it is an accomplishment."

Another GCLS . team to
watch is 'St. Xavier, the defending Division I ,state
champion.
Although the Bombers
(14-6) finished in a secondplace tie with Elder in the
GCLS, two of their key players, jordan Cornett and
Steve Callahan, have been
plaYing hurt and will again in
the tournament.
Western Hills, ranked
No.2 in the final poll, brings
a 10~game winning streak
into the sectional.
Due to a request by the
players, Western Hills drew
into the same bracket with
Winton Woods and could play
the Warriors for the Oxford
upper bracket championship
on Friday, March 2.
'iff it was my choice, we
woOldn't ·be in the bracket
with Winton Woods because
I have a lot of respect for
David (Lumpkin) and the
·program," Western Hills
coach Lannis Timmons said.
"The kids believe in eaeh
other and that's where they
wanted to play. I gave them
the opportunity to pick and
that's why we're in with
Winton Woods."
Elder is another team that
seems to excel at tournament time. Moeller's Kremer calls coaeh Joe Sehoenfeld's team, which twice
up~et the state's. top:ranked
tellm (St. Ignatms and St.
Xavier), "dangerous.".
Another contender is Ocik
H.ll)s, the Greate~ Miami
Conference champwn, and
rurlner-up Hamilton. And
hOW about Loveland, .a team
th~t finished with a 19-l recora but was snubbed at the
seeding meeting.

Another question to b~'an"\
·swered is how McNiCholas ·
will respond in the Division
II tournament without veteran Jerry Doerger, suspended
this season by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
Traditionally, the. Rockets
play a schedule filled with
Division I opponents, then
make a deep postseason run.
Although Kettering Alter
would appear to be the team
to beat in Division II, Roger
Bacon, Purcell Marian or
Clermont Northeastern
could make a run.
In Division III at Sycamore, Cincinnati Hills
League rivals Madeira,
Reading and .Mariemont are
the teams to beat.
Ripley, the No.4 seed,
could also challenge.
Six of the top 10 teams in
the Associated Press Division IV poll are from Southwestern Ohio, including Cincinnati Hills Christian·
Academy and Cincinnati
Country Day.
"This is an unbelievable
region," said CCD coach
Howard Brownstein, whose
Indians went 19-1. "In my
opinion, this is the strongest
field in the 16 years I've
been at the school.".
Besides CCD and CHCA,
No. 1-ranked Maria Stein
Marion Local, Cedarville·,
South Charleston Southeastern, Minster and Reedsville
Eastern are enterea in the
Southwestern tournament.
CCD's core of six seniors
led the team to a 19-1 record, tying the 1992 team
for best in school history.
CCD history.

he sat front-and-center Sunday
before the race.
moment than here," said race
He wore an open-faced helmet
winner Michael Waltrip, who and shunned some of NASCAR's
drove a car owned by Earnhardt. other basic safety innovations. He
"It's so painful."
said the restrictor plates
Earnhardt's statistics - 76 vic- NASCAR- used to slow speeds at
tories,
seven Winston
Cupdcham- its fastest tracks were for sissies,
·
1
p10nships, that ong-awaite victo- and refused to don a new-wave
500 in 1998 - Head And Neck Safety (HANS)
ry at' the Daytona
don t come c1ose to camp1ete1Y brace that has recently been
. thi t
te11mg
s s ory.
touted as a way to lessen impacts.
Rather, the image does.
Earnhardt was more than
One of the most-repeated : mean, tough and sullen. He was a
quotes in NASCAR history dealt winner who still felt he .could
with what it felt like to try to hold challenge the field every week.
off The Intimidator with one lap
He raced like it Sunday, bumpremaining: . "There is no worse ing Sterling Marlin off the lead
sight than seeing Dale Earnhardt early in the race, trading paint
in your rear-view mirror."
with rookie Ron Hornaday a few
Dressed in black and sporting a laps later and moving past another
bushy moustache that was once rookie, Kurt Buseh, then flashing
nearly singed off, Earnhardt was an obscene gesture as he passed.
an intimidating figure who went · Even drivers on other circuits
after what he wanted. Notjust on were intimidated.
the speedway, but in the business
In the International Race of
world, in NASCAR's front office Champions on Friday, IRL driver
,..<,.:] ;n tba r"loo

noaot:nao

uzt,o ... o ~ .. ,.

OT

~

aside, and out of contention, to
get a piece of the lead. But Earnhardt avoided wrecking and when
the race was over, he drove up
behind Cheever and spun him out
on the infield.
It was a move Earnhardt never
would have thought twice about.
had he made it, but Cheever 11•as
apologetic,after the race.
"The la.st thing I. need is a feud
with Dale Earnhardt," he said.
The race that may have encap- ·
sulated Earnhardt's career came
in 1995 at Bristol Motor Speedway, where he turned the highbanked, half-mile oval into his own
personal battleground.
Early, Earnhardt was sent to
the back of the field by NASCAR
officials for knocking Rusty Wallace into a wall. Half the crowd
cheered, the others booed.
The Intimidator also clashed
with Derrike Cope and Lake
Speed, leaving the No. 3 car
looking like. something that be-

But Earnhardt wasn't through.
Charging back into second place
in his taped up Chevrolet, he ran
into the back of leader Terry
Labonte as they came off the final
turn. Labonte spun out as he took
the Checkered flag, still the winner but battere d and bruise d by
Earnhardt's persistence.
Earnhardt began to steady his
once-shaky· relationship with Dale
Earnhardt Jr., the son who will
take over·his mantle much sooner
than anyone ever figured.
Mter finally triumphing at the
Daytona 500 in 1998, after 19
failures, pit crews, drivers and
owners stood atop their cars and
applauded wildly. No other driver
could command sueh respect.
"This one tops them all,"
The Associated Press/CHUCK BURTON
Earnhardt said after that victory.
Dale Earnhardt fans pause by a makeshift memorial outside the
"It puts the icing on the cake."
•
He won five more races after- headquarters for Dale Earnhardt, Inc., near Mooresville, N.C.
ward and finished second last year
~n the Winstop, ..Cup point stand-~·

;wa_nts
It's not about the money.
That's what we hear all the
tune when athletes sign their
·multimillion dollar contracts.
· _' It's always about taking care of
their family, being-in familiar sur- :(oundings 9r reciprocating loyal,
:ty.
Maybe' there's a restaurant in
towri they like
or maybe they
just can't. bear
to leave their favorite radio sta·Baseball's old-boy network is dead. The same managers aren't being
tion.
· recycled anymore. Six teams enter spring training with new managers.
Money? No
big deal.
Four are rookie skippers and the other two - the Reds' Bob Boone and the
It's as if the
.,.~. . . . . ~--._;
cash were the
Phillies' Larry Bowa- also bring fresh ideas and new vigor.
_last item negotiated, a throw-in
.after_ everything else has been
By Tony Jackson
agreed on.
Post staff reporter
,. Whenever a professional ath;. lete says it's not about the money,
Six major-league teams, the Reds included, will go to
· .you can bet that it is.
spring training with new managers next week A quick
But in the case of Bengals runperusal of that list suggests there was a clear pattern to
ning back Corey Dillon, when he
clubs' hiring practices during the winter.
. ·declares ·his lack of concern over
Four of the six are first-time big-league skip_.·finances, he might just mean it.
pers. A fifth, Philadelphia's Larry Bowa, is
managing in the majors for the first time
·. :· "I've got money," Dillon said
since hewas fired from his first job, in San
. ·r.eclmtly. "Everybody in the
Diego, 13 years ago. And the last one,
· league's got money. It's not a
Cincinnati's Bob Boone, also )las had just
.. money thing. This game is about
one previous job, and the Reds hired him
winning."
only after they failed to reach contract
- , Dillon has this crazy idea
agreements with potential first-timers
about wanting to play in the SuWillie Randolph and Ron Oester.
per Bowl. .Imagine that. Playing
Baseball's infamous old-boy network .for the Bengals and dreaming
the one that for so many years allowed the
, ,about the Super Bowl.
. likes of Dallas Green, Jim Fregosi, Davey
Talk about deluding yourself.
Johnson and, yes, Jack McKeon, to keep
The Bengals' All-Pro running
popping up in various cities around the
back will become a free agent
league- is so five minutes ago.
March 2 and the one thing he's
With the game entering a new century,
looking for above all else as he
there is apparently a move toward new
decides where he'll play next year
m:ll\agers. Three of the six are older
- is a.commitment to winning..
thM 50, meaning this isn't necesWhich is why, if this Were trusaTI.ly a youth movement.
lyoan open competition, the
Rather, it appears to be more a
Bengals wouldn't have a shot at
movement toward fresh ideas.
retaining their best player. This
P,ind in many cases, it's an effort
organization is about a lot of
to reward those who have paid ·
.things- turning a healthy profit,
their dues to get here.
,alienating season ticket holders,
Here is a brief look at each of
drafting poorly, players being
,the six new managers:
arrested for DUI - but winning
! :
isn't among them ..
Bob Boone, Reds
Fortunately for the Bengals,
The last of the six to-be hired,
the system allows them to desigBoone, formerly a special assistant.
nate Dillon with a transition tag
to Reds general manager Jim
that gives them the right to keep
'Bowden, waited patiently.
him if they match the most lucraThe R~ds, meanwhile, tried to
tive offer from another franchise.
. See MANAGERS on 78
Without that leverage, Dillon
would aimo:St surely play somewhere else next year. With it, they
_ have at least a_ fighting chance to
:·-~-keep him.····>· --~-~,;..--,..--~~::.:-:...---+-c.:----~
But with this club; take nothing for granted.
The Bengals would seem to
have everything Dillon could
·want. They have a beautiful new
atadiuin with modern facilities.
, They play on a forgiving grass
_field. And they have enough money available under the salary cap
to enable them to match just
about any offer Dillon might receive.
But they still have a mighty
difficult time talking about winning with a straignt face.
One of the first steps they've taken in their bid to demonstrate
their commitment to excellence is
to make a lowball contract offer
to center Rich Braham, one of the
guys who blocks for Dillon - the
piayer they want to keep so desperately.
That has to be somber news
fcir Dillon, who has spent the past
four years getting bruised and
battered week after week only to
look up at the end of the game
and see that his team lost again.
_ And Dillon has been here long
enough to understand that when
. free-agent time-rolls around and
· the Bengals embark on their lais·
sez-faire approa,ch t!l improving
their roster, the top free 11gents
.won't want to play in Cincinnati
because they know the same .
thing he knows: that playing for
-this club means watching the
.playoffs on ·Tv.
_The Bengals~ust completed
-their second straight 4-12 season
to make them 11-38 during the
_past three years.
·· Apparently, that suits them
just' fine. Instead of cleaning
house with an entirely new coach·ing staff, instead of infusing the
.,_
organization with new blood by
hiring a general manager, they
merely shuffled a few folks
around and bring in a new offensive coordinator.
Dillon isn't asking the Berigals
to. show him the money. He can
s,ee the money all the way from
his home in Seattle. The money
win find him.
'· What Dillon wants above all
else as he weighs his future is for
.. the Bengals to show him a sign,
any sign, that if he re-ups with
them for the long haul, he won't
be staring at 4-12 for the rest of
his career.
·,.It's the one thing the Bengals
can't offer. .
: Bill !{ocb can be reached at
392-2810 or bkoch@cincypfJst.com.

arid who has the best chance to make
the team - Page 68.
. >- Spring training has evolved into big
business. The Grapefruit League's 20
teams in Florida and the 10 in Arizona's
Cactus League are now sources of
civic pride - and big bucks - for
those communities - Page GB.

The Moeller High School basketball team took the shot Elder
coach Joe Schoenfeld wanted the
Crusaders to attempt in; the waning seconds of Friday night's
_ Greater C'atholic League South
showdown at Moeller. ·
Crusaders coach Carl Kremer
was shocl):ed his star senior forward, Matt Sylvester, didn't take
that final shot when he had an
opportunity.
So wl:iat else should happen
·out that an overshot three-pointer
by Moeller senior forward Nick
Monserez be_ pulled down by senior center Clint Nagel and put
back in just before the final buzz.
er to give the Crusaders a 42-41
win .against the Panthers.
"As soon as it went up, I knew
it. was long," said Nagel of Monserez's shdt. "I thought I had
three or four seconds left, enough
for a shot fake."
Said Schoenfeld: "It's a fate
kind of thing. We played great de-fense on that play. You don't want
Sylvester taking that final shot
and beating you."
TJ:le Crusaders, ranked No. 2 in
The Post's Ohio=area Division I
poll, are 14-4 overall and alone
atop the GCL South at 8-2. Fifthranked Elder (12-6) dropped to 6-4
in the league after suffering its
second straight loss. The Panthers
fell to McNicholas, 68-65, in overtime Tuesday.
Moeller made 19 of 40 shots in
the game, while Elder hit on 16 of
35. Sylvester tallied a game-high
22 points, while senior guard Mike
Mah~~eO.::EUler..:¥fu. clO-i~oints.-::.:~;:.~-

Moeller seemed to have taken· · ···
control with a 38-34 lead with two
mjnutes left. But a turnover and
subsequent basket by Elder senior guard Tim Schenke made it a
two-point game with 1:44 remain·
ing. Sylvester missed an open
three-pointer on Moeller's next
possession, allowing Elder a ·
chance to tie the score.
Panthers senior center Phil
Bengel grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled wh:lle scoring on the put-back. He made his
free throw, giving Elder a 39-38
advantage with 54 seconds left.
Sylvester answered 12 seconds
later, dropping in a· one-handed
shot while cutting across the iniddle of the lane to regain the lead
for Moeller, 40-39.
After calling a timeout, Moeller
came out and tried to_ pressure
the ball hard. Bad move as
Schenke took an alley-o6p . pass

See MOELLIEIR on 2B

Logan makes st· ng ca
as C-USA's st player
i

By Rodney McKissic

_ . "If we make a ruri at the league title,

Bob Huggins has coached three of the
last five Conference USA _Player of the
Year recipients and 13 first-team all-league
selections. The names of Kenyon Martin
Pete Mickeal, Danny Fortson and Nick
Van Exel ~e inscribed in nearly every corner of Shoemaker Center.
Another could be added this spring, and
it might not be that of sophomore point
guard Kenny. .Satterfield. Though Satterfield is a John Wooden Award candidate
an increasing number of others believe hi~
older teammate, guard Steve Logan, is the
pulse of the te(l.m and a ~trong candidate
for C-USA Player of the Year honors.

Without a question," Huggins said. "Since
league play started, I don't know anyone
··
who has been better than he has."
. As UC prepares for today's game at
Southern Mississippi, there is little question that Log!ln has gone from a sopho- .
. more thrust into a starting role to a domi' nant player capable of controlling a game.
·
Part of it has to do with his experience.
Part of it has to do with his deceptive
quickness. ·Part of it has to do with his
ability to score points three at a time. Most
of it is his. pool-shark like demeanor.
"Stevie reminds me of those old-time
ABA players, gTeat body control, great
Se_e UC on 9B

t. X
Senior Mike Grogan scored 1.4
points and made two of five
three-point attempts as the defending
state champion St. Xavier Bombers
broke a three-game losing streak by
beating LaSalle, 59-41, Friday night
in a Greater Catholic League matchup.
Notre Dame-bound senior Jordan
Cornette, playing with an injured
knee, blocked three shots for the
Bombers, who are ranked No. 8 in
The Post's Division I Ohio-area poll.

MID-MiAMI LIEAGIJE
TALAWANDA 61, WEST CARROLLTON 56 - Junior Matt Jacobs
scored 19 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and senior Rusty Bennett
was 3-for-3 from the free-throw line in
the final minute to ice the game.

Elder's Rick Wiehe battles for a rebound during the first half of Fridats GCL South g?me
at Moeller> The Cn.isacjers won, 42-41, to stay in first place in the league.
·

oeller: Gym's farewell
suniably take _the final shot
From :I.B
in the lane. ··But when Elfrom senior guard Jake Ba- · der's defense C\)llapsed
. zeley and dunked the ball quickly on .Sylvester, he
with 26 seconds left to put passed out ·to Monserez in
the Panthers back up by the corner.
one. The small but loud El·
"If l was open for the
der cr:owd, which packed three, I was going to take it,''
one corner of the gym, went said Monserez .... But Jake
wild.
Bazeleymade a great recov"That was a great job on ery and came rushing out at
their part," said Moeller me and forced me to rush
coach Carl Kremer of the the shot. Luckily, Clint was
pass. "Obviously, getting out there."
after them Wru? not wise."
It was the final game at
Moeller's overflowing Moeller's gym. The school
crowd got the final chance will be opening a new 1,350·
to celebrate, though.
seat gym next season.
. The final play called for a
To signify the event, sevquick· handoff at the top of en of the school's eight
the key between Moeller se- all-time head coaches and a
nior guard Scott Byrnes and large group of basketball
Sylvester, who Would pre- alumni - including :(ormer

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Ensures. Day-Long Comfort~
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761 Eastgate South Blvd.
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high school All-Americans
Mike .Sylvester (Matt's father); Byron Larkin and
Mike Monserez (Nick's
brother) - attended the
game.
"That's an in-the-trench,
hand-to-hand style game typical of the GCL," Kremer
said. "I'm really happy for
Clint because he does so
much of the dirty work un- ·
derneath." ·

Sylvester tip-in but that is as close as it
·
got. It was the only basket of the half for
Matt Sylvester of Moeller and Jordan the 6-foot-7 Ohio State-bound senior forCornette of St. Xavier may have been the ward, thanks in large part to the defense
headliners in Friday night's Greater Cath· of the 6-8 Cornette. Sylvester had 11
olic League South showdown but St. Xa- ·. points to go along with three blocked
vier's Mike Grogan certainly Qidn't play shots. Cornette- headed to Notre Damesecond fiddle.
responded with 16 points and six blocked
A senior guard, Grogan· . drilled two shots, including three against Sylvester.
three-pointers from the same spot in left
He ended tne· game with a breakaway
corner late in the fourth quarter to help
slam.
The Post's top-ranked Obio:area Division
"The momentum was with Moeller for
I team erase a ·12-point Moeller lead and
go on to a 63-5~ home win in front of a three quarters but it came our way in the
packed house of 2,300 at Dick Berning fourth," Cornette :;aia. "We were helping
Gym. St. Xavier outscored Moeller; 29-10, a lot on Sylvester"early and left their guys
open. Anyoody can bit open shots and
in the final quarter.
The Bombers remain undefeated at 5-0 that's wp~t· they did."
overall and 3-0 in the GCL South, while
Following a three-pointer by Moeller
No.· 4 Moeller falls to 2·2 and 1-1 in the senior guard Jim Wood that made it
league. Both teams·shot 52 percent from 32-18, the Crusaders didn't score for the
the field and each made eight treys. Re- final 3:29 of the game. Their last three ·
bounds w~re equal at 17 each and turn- possessions resulted in two turnovers ·
overs were minimal (Moeller eight, St. and a missed shot while St Xavier scored
Xavier six). The difference was when and seven points to close out the half.
from where Grogan bit his shotS.
"I thought they extended their pres"I struggled early in the game to· find sure (in the fourth quarter) and we quit
my shot," said Grogan, who finished with going inside," Moeller coach Carl .Kremer
14 points, including four treys. "We lost said. "It didn't seem like they missed a
so much off of last year's te~ that I shot in the fourth quarter. They got great
wanted to step up. We've got to have looks and, to their players' credit, they
more than just one guy step up for us and bit them."
I was open on those shots."
MOELLER
19 13 12 10-54
10 15 11 2J-&3
The first of his fourth-quarter bombs It ST. XAVIER
MOELLI!II (54): Byrnes 50 ll, Monserez b 114, Nagel2 3 7, Sylvester
gave St. xaVier a 51-:iO ·lead with 2:40 left 50 11, Wood 1 3 11. Totals: 21 4 54.
to play. It was the Bombers' first lead of
ST. XAVIER (&3): Callahan 3 0 8. Groa•o 4 2 ' ', CG1nette 6 4 16, Bast 2
the game. His second shot made it 56-50· 15, Retzlnger4110, ShrlverO 11, Wi•'ir.·o <v 2. Totals 23 9 63.
Hallllme: Moeller, 32-2~. Three-pobtt goals: M-Monserez 3. Wood 3,
with 1:27 left.
Byrnes, Sylvester. X-Grogan 4. Cailahao 2, Bast, ~!Zinger. Records:
The Crusaders got to within four Moontr 2·2, 1-1 GCUl, SL XaYief .)-(). U. JY. Moener, ol-:.~. ·,
Post contributor

l10-point deficit to defeat
jNo. 4 Moeller 63-54 before a
capacity crowd. Friday at
St. X.
"We played as a team, and
they played more as individu;als," St. X senior Jordan
Cornette said. "We were
down 10, but you didn't see
,any of our players with their
heads down. We knew we
could come back."
' lt was Cornette, Mike
Grogan and Steve Callahan
who came through down the
stretch for the Bombers.
They combined for 19 points
as St. X outscored Moeller
29-10 in the fourth quarter.
Moeller appeared to have
the game well in hand late jn
the third quarter, leading
42-32. But Crusaders coach
Carl Kremer went into a
stall, which proved fatal.
"This reminded me a lot
of last year's Elder game,"
Cornette said. "We trailed
most of the game, and they
slowed it down. We then
came back to win it."
Coming out in a press to
start the fourth quarter,
St. Xavier forced three quick
turnovers, whiclt_the Bomb-

!

I

ers turned into points on
field goals by Alex Bast, Callahan and sophomore Craig
Cashen, cutting the lead to
46-41. .
"I think Moeller got impatient," Grogan said. "We
were where we wanted to be
to start the fourth quarter.
Then the crowd got into it,
and everything turned."
Moeller's Jim Wood countered with a 3-pointer, and
Clint Nagel added a free
throw. Callahan came
through with a 3-pointer, and
Cornette followed with a
tip-in and a short jump shot.
Grogan then came up big,
sinking a 3-pointer with 2:36
remaining to give St. Xavi~
er's its first lead at 51-50.
Cornette scored on an inside
play,· and ·Grogan followed
with another 3-pointer.
"They were out on me the
entire game," Grogan said.
"After Steve (Callahan) hit
the 3-pointer, they doubled
him and I was open for the
final two."
St. X coach Scott Martin
refused to criticize Kremer's
decision to slow the tempo.
"I may have done the
same thing, because the
clock was our enemy," Martin said. "We made several
adjustments on offense and
defense throughout the
game. We missed practice
Wednesday. I didn't have
them ready to play."
·
It was all Moeller during
the first three quarters, wi1h
the Crusaders leading at every stop. The 3-pointer was

·

The Cincinnati Enquirer/BRAND! STAFFORD

St. Xavier's Josh Williams tries to keep a loose ball in bounds as Moeller's Nick

·

Monserez closes in Friday night.
·
,·
.
Moeller ~ major weapon. utes, Cornette limited Syl~uards N~ck M~nserez and vester to two points. Cor]1m Wood each hit three and nette blocked four shots in
the half and six for the game.
Scott Byrne one..
Both teams shot well from
Another factor m the out~
come was the defensive ef- the floor. Moeller was 21-offort during the second half 40 and 8-of-14 from 3-point
by Cornette on Moeller se- range. St. X was 23-of-44
and 8-of-16 from beyond the
nior Matt Sylvester.
During the. final 16 min- 3-point line.

Truth be told, Matt Sylvester pictured himself a
Buckeye a year and a half. ago.
Sylvester. was a sophomore on the Moeller boys'
basketball team that won the Division I state title at
Ohio State University's new Schottenstein Center. In
between games at Columbus, he would marvel at the
building's NBA feel: The high-tech kiosks situated at
the arena floor entryways, the murals trumpeting
the greatness of Buckeyedom, the wall-to-wall skyboxes. Yet, the fans were close to the floor, just like
they should be for intense college and high school
games. And they were loud. Dang loud.
Geez, this would rock, Sylvester thought to. himself. One day, in between games, he turned to Moeller coach Carl Kremer, ·star struck. "I love this
place," he told Kremer. "I would love to play here
every day."
.
.
··
·
Starting next summer, he'll get that chance.

..

-..

.

;::;y!vester, a senior-to-be with
the Crusaders and one of the top
prep prospects in southern Ohio,
got vezy
announced his oral commitment
loyal fans.
Monday afternoon ~o Ohio State.
"They've got very loyal fans.
It's agreai
It's a great place," said Sylvester,
place,"
who tabbed the Buckeyes over
finalists the University of Cincin-Matt
nati, Xavier University, the UniSylvester
versity of Utah, Michigan State
University and the 'university of
Dayton, where his father, Mike,
played from 1971-74. "When they get (the Schottenstein Center) packed, it's incredible. ·it's a great
place to play, great atmosphere/'
·
Kremer said the hands-on approach of Ohio
State coach Jim O'Brien really helped sway the
6-foot-7 forward.
·
~'The big thing was that coach O'Brien recruited
him personally," Kremer said..
Sylvester fills the second of three scholarships
the Buckeyes had available for the 2001-02 school
year. ·He averaged 21.5 points and seven rei)OtlntliS
ptlr game as a junior. for the Crusaders
See SYLVESTER on 58
~They've

hoop standout

Sylvester: Destiny called
From lB

named the Greater Catholic League's Co-Player of the Year. He was a first-teamer on the
20QO All-City and All-Southwestern Ohio
sqoods and was first-team All-Tournament
during Moeller's title run in the spring of '99.
Credit some of Sylvester's early commitment to former Ohio State player Devon
Smith, who befriended Sylvester during his
half-dozen visits to Columbus.
Sylvester said he felt he was destined to
become a Buckeye when he recently ran. into
,Smith in, of all P,laces, a basketball camp ~
Utah.
·
·
•.

"I said, 'Devon, what are you
and he said the same thing to me," ~vlvAdAr
recalled with a laugh. "It was an
sell job."
Sylvester is the second major GCL star to
commit to a major program outside of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.
Sylvester's friend and AAU teammate, Jordan Cornette of St. Xavier, gave an oral commitment to Notre Dame earlier this year.
"We talked about (our chClices) on AAU
·trips," Sylvester said. ''When he
early, I decided I wanted to commit _early,
too."
BRUCE CRIPPEN(fhe Post

Moeller High's MattSylvester, middle, announced Monday afternoon that'he.will play
basketball at Ohio State following his senior year at Moeller.

· 2 0 0 0 • 0 1 ·B 0 V S ' B A S K E T B A L L P R E V I E W

12-r- ab
•
·
Matt Sylvester has .
followed in his
.
·
father's footsteps
at Moeller, but
he's making the
tough choices ·
himself....:.._· such as
picking Ohio State
over UC and XU.

1S

.
'w.
'
n
.
0

. a·n ·.
m'

JIM OSBORN/Th

Moeller senior Matt Sylvester, stretching at a practice, is now 6 feet 8 and hopes to lead the Crusaders to a second state title. His
father; Mike, top right, played at Moeller in 1969 with Mark Daniel and coach. Jerry Qoerger.

. .

j:j!JQ 11/.3a /0 0

.

Sylvester upholds
family tradition
Sylvester: Seeks return

Moeller star follows dad's footsteps,

to chanlPii1ilSilfp game

By Dave Goldstein
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Matt Sylvester has had a
basketball in his hands since
he was a baby, so it makes
sense that he· can do just
about anything he wants
with one now.
.
Sylveste.r, a versatile ~foot-? seruor at Moeller~ IS
considered the best h1gh
school basketball player in
Cincinnati - an honor he
seemingly was born to receive. His father, Mike Sylvester, was also a star at
Moeller and played professionally for 17 seasons in
Italy. He taught his son the
perimeter skills not often as-·
sociated with players his
·size,, and now Moeller coach
Carl Kremer has given
Mattthe freedom to flourish,
not confining his star to the
inside.
"If he gets the rebound,
he knows he's allowed to just
go with . it," Kremer said.

"He'll play what we call the
four spot, but he'll handle
the ball, post up and shoot 3s
as well. He plays all facets of
the game."
/
Sylvester became a- varsity starter in his sophomore.
year and began/Showing
knack for excelling in big
games. He ~ a game-winning, buz?er-beating tip in
the state semifinals and then
scored 16 points in the state
MIKE SIMONS/For The Cincinnati Enqulre1

a

see SYLVESTER Page C3
'
Other top players, C3_

Moeller's Matt Sylvester, considered the top prep
basketball player in Cincinnati, comes from one of
the best-known athletic families in town,

From Page C1
think he's much.' I don't want to
.
.
.
leave doubts in anyone's mind.''
.championship game, which Moe!Sylvester doubted himself once.
.
Invited to compete in the Nike
ler won.
"Matt had a pretty average All-America basketball camp after
freshman ~ear, and ~e :vasn't a his sophomore season, he felt
great pract1ce player m his sopho- physically overmatched. But he
more year," Kr~mer said. "B~t eventually scored 24 points in a
when we asked him to do a lot, m game convincing himself he beour toughest games, he. played his · longed.
Matt announced in July he will
best. The great ones have that
ability."
attend Ohio State.
Sylvester said ~e owes a great . As a junior last season, Sylvesdeal of that to his father. When . ter averaged 21 points and seven
Mike Sylvester played in Italy, his rebounds a game and was named
family went with him. It was dur- first-team all-city, but Moeller
ing those years (from ages 6 went just 10-11.
months to 8 years) that · Matt
Kremer said this season Sylvesdecided he wanted to play basket- ter will face the mounting presball for a living - and that Mike sure, the wrath of opposing fans
decided there would be no baby- and the temptation to try to do
ing his son if the goal was tQ be too much. He also said he's confireached. Both agree that father dent Sylvester will improve as a
has been son's biggest critic - and senior.
his best influence.
That's because Sylvester isn't
Matt is joining the family's tra- satisfied with one title and his
dition of athletic excellence. His individual accolades.
uncle Steve played for the Oak- · "I want· to go out and score
land Raiders, and his uncle Vince more points than anyone else on
played football at tlie University the court, get more rebounds than
of Cincinnati. Matt said that tradi- anyone else and just try to domition· is more a source of inspira- nate the game," he said. "We've
tion than of pressure.
won the state championship, but I
"I'm a Sylvester, a well-known was a sophomore, so that really
name here," Matt said. "I don't wasn't my team. I want people to
want to walk off the court and saY. I won it as a sophomore and
:-tave people·~aying: 'Oh, that's the was led, and I won it as a senior
Sylvester kid. People say he's the and was the leader. That would
)est in Cincinnati, but I don't mean a lor to me."

f"oeller 11 _ :7..1'--~·a:. .: ·

, After a year of rebuilding following t,he 199.9 state chai:iii)ionship, the Crusaders hope to
make. some ~ajor noise again
this.season.
·
"We ·have a great charice at
being a good team," said head
coach Carl Kremer. "We have a ·
lot of kids back and a lot of talent :
·at the fo~r and fiye spots." ·
. Matt ~ylvester returns _at
power forward~· The highly tout-.
ed 6-foot-7_ senior signed with
Ohio State and looks to be one of
the top scorers in Cincinnati for a
second straight year.
:
~e is joined up· front by. 6- ·
foot-.7 ·center Clint Nagel,· who
comes in fr.om Loveland: :t-l'agel'
is popular with several Division.
II coJleg~s and should be .a. key·
scorer right a'way.
_ Another_important .factor_for.
the Crusaders is the· return of
point :guard Scott Byrnes;- a
three-year varsity play~r· who,
missed inost of last.~eason with a
back injury. ·
; "He's a key to the. team's
iong-term success," Kremer said.
Nick Monserez and Tyler
Tabler ~h~te up· tlie p_eiimeter.
Monserez, 6-foot-5, looks to be
..
.
the starting two guard.. .. .. · Christmas t? New Ye~:s for the
Kremer predicts the Greater : Nike 'Prep Classic. . The
Catholic League will' not ge~ any ·crusaders._will face fol;Jr of the·
easier. He has the team Slated .for top teams in the nation during,
a holiday !_I:ip to _San Di~g~oiD: ·the t<:)urnament. · :. .... .
· ,. ·

COLUMBUS- Two players
from high-profile programs headed for higher-profile programs
took the top·honors on the
2000-2001 Associated Press Division I boys All-Ohio high school
basketball team announced, Monday.
Moeller's Matt Sylvester, a 6foot-7 senior, shares the player of
the year honors ii). lhe big-school
division with Thomas Worthington's j.J. Sullinger.
Sylvester, who has signed to
play next season at Ohio State,
averaged 21.4 points and 7.5 rebounds a game while shooting 48
percent from 3-point range.
Sullinger, a 6-5 senior who will
next play for Arkansas, had averages of 20.6 points, 8.8 rebounds,
6 assists, 2.1 blocks and 1.8 steals
'
a game.
The coaches of the year in the
division are jed Dunn, who led
Lyndhurst Brush to a 17-3 record
and a league 'title, and Columbus
Brookhaven's Bruce Howard, who
guided his team to a perfect record, a No. 1 ranking in the final
poll and state tournament berth,
where it will play Elder.
Western Hills senior Danny

Horace and Winton Woods junior
Robert Hite each were named to
the All-Ohio third team.
St. Xavier's jordan Cornette
received special mention. Jake Bazeley of Elder, Darryl Peterson of
Western Hills, Paul Volkerding of

good size and good guards and you
have to pick your poison.
"They are a team that's evolved really
Âˇ.
well into their personnel."
While that personnel was taking care of
things on the defensive end, Elder still needed a way to break away offensively.
Enter guard Mike Mahon, who had

~nU~~~!~~~me

' flfSt half.
He nailed a three-point goal with 4:13 left
in the period to make it 27-23. Jim Wood
scored. for Moeller to cut it to two points.
; Jake Bazeley banked in a pull-up jumper and
Mahon connected on back-to-back threes to
make it 35-25.
"We got behind and we had to gamble,"
Kremer said. "We can guard Mahon one-onone, but we had to chase the ball around.
When you have to gamble, Mahon is a guy
who can stick the dagger in your heart. He
did."
Bazeley led all scorers with 16 points,
including a petfect 6-for-6 from the freethrow line.
Sylvester's 15 led Moeller, while fellow
senior Nick Monserez added. seven. Scott
Byrnes and Sean Mahoney each scored six,
jeff Reisert had three, 'Wood two, and Tyler
Âˇ
Tabler one.
Moeller finishes the season with a GCL
championship and an 18-5 record.
"We're not going to reach our ultimate
goal, but later on we'll try to remind them of
all we did accomlish," Kremer said. "It has
been a tremendous senior ~lass. They will
\ alwavs be part of our program."

After Moeller High won
1the 1999 Division I state basketball championship at Ohio
State's Schottenstein Center,
Matt Sylvester made a.decision.
1 "Matt told me that he'd
I like to play his college bas1ketball in this arena,"
' Moeller coach Carl Kremer
said.'-'~It didn't surprise me
that he chose Ohio State."
Passing
over offers
from Xavier,
Dayton,
Cincinnati,
Michigan
State, Utah
and North
Carolina
S t a t e ,
Sylvester announced ManClay an oral commitmen~Jo
1 Ohio State.

~

[I A 6-foot-7, 190 pound for\'Tard, Sylvester averaged
Ill points and 8.l'rebotinds
ar a sophomore and 21.5
paints and 7 rebounds last
yeat as a'junior.
~·
"It Y{aS. tough d ision,"
Sylvester said. "It ca e down
to coach Gim) O'Brien. I felt
very comfortable 1with him.
He personally recruited me."
On several 'occasions,
O'Brien attended Moeller
games and practices. Twice,
O'Brien observed Sylvester
working out in the weight
room.
,'
··;Sylvester's father, ·steve,
also a Moeller basketball
standout whO played at Dayton and professionally in
Italy,. was elated with the
decision. ·
"J. told Matt he couldn't
make a mistake no matter
what· school he chose,"
·Sylvester} said. "All were
great· programs with outstanding coaches."
· Before the news conference started, Sylvester's
"choice was obvious when his
three cousins, Jonathan, Ben
'and.Hariison Smith, entered
Moefler's cafeteria dressed
,in Ohio State hats and shirts.
Moeller and the Sylvester
;family are synonymous. The
relationship dates back to the
1966-671 school year, when
¥ik!'! ·sylvester, Matt's uncle,
enrolled and developed into a
standout baseball and basketball player.
• · Steve Sylvester followed in
i967 (basketball and foot• ball) .. Athird brother, Vince,
enrolled in 1974 and played
football~ ;16~~

a

ial collects
school's biggest wiri
•

By Steve Brand .i - 1- 01
STAFF WRITER

J

tage to 52-39 'with 2:48 rem~g
in the third quarter. Ohio State
. University signee SyJ.vester had
scored 22 of his game-high 29
points in the first half and appeared unstoppable.
But when Centennial went to
what Popov called his "run and
jump fullcourt press," the momentum, not to mention the tempo of
the game, took a dramatic change.
'We ran different 'guys at Sylvester ...:... finesse players, position
players, power players- to by. to
and it worked," said
wear him
Popov. "The big thing was (64,
210.pound) Bryan Gonzalez put a
body on him and that seemed to
slow him down."
And the jump?
'We went inside more and started reboundfug, which we weren't
doing in the first half," explained
the Huskies coach.
·
Still, the patient, disciplined visitors from Cincinnati only appeared
mildly b()thered, regaining the
.lead at 55-52 and using free throws
of their own to remain close when
a Clint Nagel tip pulled the Crusaders to within one at 67-66.
On the inbounds pass, Sylvester
went for the steal and was whistled
for his fifth foul.
With him went any chance for a
victory, although Moeller was still
only one back with 11 seconds to
· play beforeJ.R Reese hit two free
throws for the winners.
'They were able to get the 'b3.11
to Williams," said Moeller coach
Carl Kramer. "It was a very physi~
cal game and with our three bii
kids in foul trouble, they went inside.
'They're quick, they're athletic
and they're a very good basketball
team."
·
' Williams· agreed with that assessment, too.

Elder breezed into Saturday's District final against the
Crusaders with an impressive
60-35 victory over Colerain in
the Cincinnati Division I upper
bracket sectional finals at UC's
Shoemaker Center Monday
night.
.
The Panthers, 17-6, got 17
points from Tim Schenke and
held Colerain to 25 percent
· shooting in the first half.
Moeller, 18-4 and the GCL
South champion, won both regular-season games. The game
is 1 p.m. Saturday at UD Arena.
.
"We're just ready right,
now," Schenke said of Moeller.;.
"We just have to play with the:
intensity like we have the last,
three games."
;
The other District title
game' will pit defending state
champion St. Xavier against
Vandalia-Butler, which beat
Troy in overtime Monday, at 7
p.m. at UD.
The Bombers, 17-5, advanced .bY beating Withrow
59-43 In· Monday's second
game.
"We're right where we
want to be," said senior guard
Steve Callahan.

Panthers anticipating
rematch with· Moeller
J-~-01
By Kevin Goheen

bounds, two steals and a pair
of assists against Colerain.
Fellow senior Scott Benken
Tim Schenke didn't hesijust six points but had
scored
tate with his smile or his aneight assists and five reswer.
bounds.
"We're ready for this
Schenke scored five of Elgan1e," said the Elder senior
forward, looking ahead to Sat- der's first seven points, includurday's 1 p.m. district final ing a pair of high flying dunks.
Senior point guard JakeBamatchup with Moeller. "We
don't need anything to get us zeley delivered a perfect alleyoop pass that Schenke caught
up for this one." ·
The sixth-seeded Panthers while cutting· baseline and
07-6) earned a third shot at threw down for Elder's · first
Moeller this season with a points. His steal and slam
60-35 dismantling of unseeded while being fouled with 4:34
Colerain {14-9) for the upper left in the opening period
bracket sectional champion- made it 7-5, and he added a
ship at the University of Cin- layup with 44 seconds to go in
cinnati's Shoemaker Center the quarter to give Elder the
lead for good, 9-7.
Monday night.
Elder also limited Colerain·
Moeller, the No. 3 seed in
the sectional tournament, beat senior guard Mike Ferris, the
Eldet twice during the regillar leading scorer in the Greater
season en route to winning its Miami Conference at 14.9
sixth Greater Catholic League points a game, to. eight points
South championship iQ nine on two-of-seven shooting.
Schenke supplied most of
seasons. That included a lastsecond 42-41 win last month at that pressure.
Moeller.
"We just tried not to
Schenke, a 6-foot-6 senior give him open looks," said Elforward, led all scorers with 17· der coach Joe Schoenfeld. "As
points while adding five re- soon as he caught the ball,
Post staff reporter

'

we wanted to be there."
The Panthers outscored
Colerain 14-5 in the second
quarter by utilizing their size
advantage. Schenke scored another seven points in the quarter, all coming iri the paint.
Colerain turned the ball
over 17 times, compared to 11
for Elder.
The Cardinals, who had
beaten GMC regular season
champion and fifth-seeded
Oak Hills in the first round,
made just 14-of-40 shots from
the field and were outrebounded 31-22. Senior forward Doug
Monaghan led the Cardinals
with 12 points and five rebounds.
"We really weren't patient
enough on offense," said Colerain coach Jim Walther.
"We shot the ball when we
were challenged and we
shouldn't have shot it."
COLERAIN
ELDER

Moeller senior forward Matt
Sylvester has been providing the
Crusader faithful·with heroics for
the past three seasons.
Sylvester once again delivered
as he tipped in a missed shot with
1.9 seconds left to give the No. 3
seed Crusaders a 61-60 overtime
win Friday night against No. 7
seed Hamilton at Miami University's Millett Hall.
Sylvester put on a dominating
performance, finishing with 34
'points on 12-of-17 shooting and
· added eight rebounds.
'1- Sylvester also hit a free throw
With seven secbnds left to force
the overtime.
Moeller will play March 10 at 1
p.m. at Xavier University's Cintas
Center against the winner .of
Monday night's Elder vs. Colerain
upper-bracket sectional at the
University of Cincinnati.
·
MOEllER
HAMilTON

OXFORD - Nick Monserez came up with the def~nsive play and Matt Syl~est~r delivered the crushing
blow in Moeller's 61-60
o\•ertime victory over Hamilton in a Division I basketball
sectional final at Millett Hall
.
·.
Friday night.
:with the Crusaders trailing
60-59 and 10 seconds remainiQg in overtime, Monserez
stole the ball at midcourt and
cfrove to the basket, _but
niissed an off-balance shot.
: A trailing Sylvester, who
would finish with 34 points,
gi-abbed the rebound and
scored on a four~foot jump
sh:Jt with .one second remaining, enabling the No. 3 seeded
Crusaders to avoid the upset.
:"I was going to foul, but I
d~cided to take a swipe at
the ball," Monserez said. "I
somehow got a piece of the
ball and grabbed it."
· :The heroics by Monserez
and Sylvester climaxed a·nipand-tuck fourth quarter after
tfie Big Blue erased a 36-25
Crusaders lead midway
through the third quarter:
:sylvester, a 6~foot-7 senior who will play at Ohio
~ate next season, also came
up big with 34 seconds remaining in overtime, nailing
. a:3~pointer to cut the deficit
ftom four points_ to one.
·"We didn't have to dribble
\

·m ·OT

on that play," Hamilton
coach Larry Allen said. "But
there were a lot of big plays
during the last 10 to 12
minutes, with some going
our way and some thej_r
way."
,
Moeller appeared to have
. the. game under control,
leading 51-48 with 38.1 seconds to play in regulation
after two free throws by Tyler Tabler.
But Hamilton battled bar.k.
Jon Smith scored with 21
seconds to play and Nate
Rusbosin followed with two
free throws with 16.6 seconds left to give the Big Blue
a one-point advantage.
Fouled with 7.6 seconds
remaining, Sylvester sank
one. of two free throws to
send the game into overtime.
. Moeller's team. bus had·
difficulty getting to Millett
Hall due to a huge traffic jam
on Rt. 27. 9,552 people· attended the double header,
which included the earlier
Western Hills-Winton Woods
game.
.
"It took us three hours to
get here," Moeller coach
Carl Kremer said. "We
' didn't arrive until there were
five minutes left iil the Westem Hills game: They deJayed our game 20 minutes
so we could stretch."
Moeller jumped out to a
~-0 lead only to see Hamilton
storm back to take a 13-10
advantage at the quarter

The Moeller High School bas·
ketball team took the shot Elder
coach Joe Schoenfeld wanted the
Crusaders to attempt in the waning seconds of Friday night's
3reater Catholic League South'
;howdown at Moeller.
Crusaders coach Carl Kremer
was shocked his star senior for·
ward, Matt Sylvester, didn't take
that final shot when he had an.
opportunity.
· ~
·
So what else should happen
but that an overshot three-pointer
by Moeller senior forward Nick
Monserez be pulled down by se·
nior center Clint Nagel and put
back in just before the final' buzz·
er to give the Crusaders a 42-41
win against the Panthers.
·
"As soon as it went up, I knew
it was long," said ;Nagel of Mon·
serez's shot. "I thought I had
three or four seconds left, enough
for a shot fake."
Said Schoenfeld: "It's a fate
kind of thing. We played great defense on that play. You don't want
Sylvester taking that final shot
and beating you."

The Crusad~rs, ranked No. 2 in
The 7Post's Ohio-area Division I
poll, are 14-4 overall and alone
atop the GCL South at 8-2. Fifthranked Elder {12-6) dropped to 6-4
in the league after suffering its
second straight loss. The Panthers
fell to McNicholas, 68-65, in overtime Tuesday.
Moeller made 19 of 40 shots in
the game, while Elder hit on 16 of
35. Sylvester tallied a game-high
22 points, while senior guard Mike
Mahon le~ Elder with 10 points.
Moeller seemed to have taken
control with a 38-34 lead with two
minutes left.. But .a turnover and
subsequent basket by Elder senior guard Tim Schenke made it a
two-point game with 1:44 remaining. Sylvester missed an open
three-pointer on Moeller's next
possession, allowing Elder a
chance to tie the score.
Panthers senior center Phil
Bengel grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled while scor·-ing on the put-back. He made his
free throw, giving Elder a 39-38
advantage with 54 seconds left.
Sylvester answered 12 seconds
later, dropping in a one-handed
shot while cutting across the ,mid·
dle of the lane to regain the lead ·
for Moeller, 40-39.
After calling a timeout, Moeller
came out and tried · to::pressure·
the ball hard. Bad move, as
Schenke took an alley-oop pass
;1..-10 See MOELLER on 2B- ul

Moeller: Gym's farewell
From lB
from senior guard Jake. Bazeley and dunked the ball
with 26 seconds left to put
the Panthers back up by
one. The small but loud Elder crowd, which packed
one corner of the gym, went
wild. ·
"That was a great job on
their part," said Moeller
coach Carl Kremer of the
pass. "Obviously, getting out
after them was not wise."
Moeller's overflowing•
crowd got the final chance
to celebrate, though.
The final play called for a
quick handoff at the top of
the key between Moeller senior guard Scott Byrnes and
Sylvester, who would pre-

sumably take the final shot
in the lane. But when El·
der's defense collapsed
quickly on Sylvester, he
passed out to Monserez in
the corner.
"If I was open for the
three, I was going to take it,"
said Monserez. "But Jake
Bazeley made a great recovery and came rushing out at
me and forced me to rush
the shot. Luckily, Clint was
there."
It was the final game at
Moeller's. gym. The school
will be opening a new 1,350seat gym next season.
To signify the event, seven of the school's eight
all-time head coaches and a
large group· of basketball
alumni - including former

.. DAYTON- Elder's conVincing 55-40 victory over
Moeller Saturday in a Divi~on I district championship
gani.e boils down to two inspired runs, two personnel
mismatches and the confi4erice. of 3-point specialist
Mike. Mahon.
·i All of ~t framed by a tenaCi(iu'S effort from what may
b~ ..JI}e best ·fundamental
te'ahi. defense still standing
Jri ihe Ohio tournament.
'} ''They are getting better
~v'¢rY' game," Moeller·
'~6'ath Carl Kreiner said of
Elder: ''Give Coach Qoe)
Schoenfeld and their players credit - they have really evolved into their personnel very well."
Elder (.18-6) advances to
the Division I regional
semifinals ag-:<inst Spring'field South at 6:15p.m.
Thursday at Xavier's Cintits Center. ·The Panthers,
\vho lost .~to GCL South
champ Moeller (18-5)
.twice in the regular season, have found winning
' formulas . on both·· offense
and defense. ,
''All year, different guys
have stepped·. forward,"
Schoenfeld said. "None of
them are superstars, but
we say if ordinary players
can make the ordinary
plays every time, this team
can be extraordinarv."

./' Elder looked ·ordifiary in a hard time getting good
the first five minutes Sat-· looks at the basket," Kre-.
urday, falling behind 11-3. mer said of his Ohio StateBut ·then came the bound star, who averaged
Panthers' first big run, a ~1.4 points per game this
14-0 burst that put Elder year.
ahead 17-11 with 5:27 left
He was Moeller's only
, in the first half..
double-figure scorer Satur:
Moeller came back to cut day, finishing with 15 points.
1
the lead to 22-21 at half,
On the other end, Elder's
but in the second half, El- Mahon was getting looks but
der simply refused to give not any points. He missed his
up points. Moeller scored first five shots, including a
on'ly · two baskets in the routine 15~footer with Elder
first 11 minutes of the sec- ahead 24-23 in the middle of
ond half.
the third quarter. But his
With 6-foot-7 Elder for- sixth try - a high-arching
ward Tim Schenke denying . 3-pointet with 4:12 left in
Moeller star Matt Sylves-. the third - was on the monter the ball, Sylvester ey, as were back-to-back 3didn't get his first basket of pointers later in the quarter.
the second half until two
Mahon's scoring broke the
minutes were left in the . _game open, giving Elder a
game.
35-25 lead after three quar"Our whole team relies ters. .
on defense. I think we're
But with five Elder players
the best defensive team in scoring eight or more points,
the city," said ~lder point the offensive credit was
guard Jake Bazeley,· who spread around. Bazeley led
had 16 points, a pair of the way by using his 6-3
· steals and five assists. ·
height to take Moeller's
· "They're very, very smaller guards to the basket,
good defensively. Matt had while Schenke added 10

Area high school basketball
had mixed results in their marches to glory. Moeller got past the
Division I sectional touma!I!-ent,
while Madeira was an upset vic' tim in Division lll.
·
' Moeller used its All-American heritage to pull off a dramat. ic finish on its way to the district
tournament. The Crusaders
edged Hamilton 61-60 in overtime March 2 at Miami University's Millett Hall.
Senior Matt Sylvester, headed
to play for Ohio State next year,
scored five of his 34 points in the
final 30 seconds. of overtime,
including a short jumper with
one second remaining for the
winning points.
The son of 1970 grad Mike
Sylvester teamed with 1999 grad
Mike Monserez's brother Nick
·
for a thrilling finish.
With Moeller trailing 60-56,
Sylvester drained a three-pointer
to pull the Crusaders within a
point. Then, with less than I 0
seconds left, Monserez attempted to foul a Hamilton player at
midcourt but ended up stripping
the ball cleanly.
Monserez drove to the basket
and missed a tough shot, but
Sy Ivester rebounded and made
·
the game winner. .
The,. Crusaders averted a
what-if scenario that could have
haunted th~m, as they were distracted by a bus ride to Millett
Hall that took much longer than
·
expected.
Moeller's learn bus was
caught in notorious Oxford traffic partially deated by the megahyped wcs'tern Hills-Winton
Woods game that preceded
them, partially caused by a short
traffic light in nearby Millville.
The Crusaders did not arrive
until ncar the end of the first
game causing their contest with
Hamilton was delayed.

Sylvester was the only Crusader in double. figures, with
Tyler Tabler adding eight points,
Scott Byrnes six, and Monserez
and Clint Nagel five.
Moeller goes on to the University of Dayton Arena for a
district championship game at 1
p.m. March 10.
The opponent will be the winner of the March 5 contest
between Elder and Colerain that
took place after Suburban Life
deadlines.
Elder won its previous two
sectional games by more _than 30
points. It would be the teams'
first meeting since a dramatic
one-point Moeller win in the
final game at Moeller's original
gymnasium.
Colerain upset fifth seed Oak
Hills in the first round of the section~! tournament and then beat
Mt. Healthy 61-50 in the semifi·
nals.
A victory puts Moeller in the
regional semifinals March 15 at
Xavier Vniversity's Cintas Center. The regional final is slated
for March 17.
In the semifinal, Moeller
would play the winner of the 3
p.m. Saturday game at UD
Arena, which would be either
Springfield South, Lebanon,
Clayton' Northmont, or Centerville.
Madeira fell victim to upsetminded Ripley, losing 74-57 in a
Division III sectional final Feb.
. 28 at Sycamore High School.
Madeira, the top seed in the
draw, was eliminated by the
fourth seed, ending its season at
19-3.
.
Bret Underwood led Madeira
with 17 points. Rob Tuke had 16
points, and Robb Hem chipped
in 11.
Madeira trailed by three
points at halftime, then was
outscored 19-15 in the third period to trail 49-42. Ripley pulled
away in the fourth quarter.

MARK D. Morz/STAFF
Moeller High School's Matt Sylvester reaches around the Hamilton
High School defense for the reverse layup. Sylves~er scored 34
points to help the Crusaders wi111 a Division I sectional title March

( Moeller clinched the Greater Cath·
otic League title for the sixth time in
the last nine years with a 67-51 win
against La Salle on Friday night.
The Crusaders were led by senior
Matt Sylvester, who scored 22, and
senior forward Clint Nagel, who had a
double-double with 11 points and 10
rebounds.
MOELLER
81 LA SALLE

MOELLER 44, LA SALLE 41 La Salle went on an 8-0 run in the
third quarter behind two tm·ee·,oo:lnters from

Area powers. start
l-oad to· Columbus
i

By Dave Schutte J,-/1., C L.

\

Ano~er GCL? team
watc~ IS St: ~a~er, the

to
Another question to be ande- swered is how McNicholas
. .
.
fend1ng D1v1stOn I .state will. respond in the Division
· Wmton Woods IS The En- champion.
II tournament without veterquirer's ~o~c~es poll champiAlthough the Bombers an Jerry Doerger, suspended
on follow1~g,1.ts 20-0 season, (14-6) finished in a second- this season by the Archdio~ut beglnnt.ng Tu,esday, place tie. with Elder in the cese of Cincinnati.
those credentt~ls won t mean GCLS, two of their key playTraditionally, the Rockets
much. ·
\
·
ers Jordan Cornett and play a schedule filled with
· "It's like starting over," Ste~e Callahan have been
,
Warriors coach David Lump- playing hurt and will again in Division I opponents, then
~n said referring ·~o the sec- the tournament. '
make a deep postseason run.
ttonal boys basketball tourwestern Hills; ranked
Although Kettering Alter
nament.
\
No. 2 in the final poll, brings would appear to be the team
Undefe~ted for the .second a 1o.game winning streak to beat in Division II, Roger
consecutive season,. the into the sectional.
Bacon, Purcell Marian or
pressure will. be on ~mton
Due to a request by the Clermont Northeastern
Woods to av01d. another early players, Western Hills drew could make a ruri.
postseason ex1t. The· War- into the same bracket with
In Division III at Sycariors lost to Hamilton i~ ~e Winton Woods and could play more, Cincinnati Hills
second game of the sectional the Warriors for the Oxford League rivals Madeira,
las.~ year.
\ upper bracket championship Reading and Mariemont are
A .lot of ~eople spoke on Friday, March 2.
the teams to beat.
'
abou~ us. gettmg b~at by\ "If it was my choice, we
Ripley, the No.4 ·seed,
Hamtlton tn last year s tour- wouldn't be in the bracket could also challenge. · ·
nament," Lumpkin said. with Winton Woods because
Six of the top 10 teams in
"They said ~e were medio- l. have a lot of respect for the Associated Press Divicre but Hamilton had a tre- David (Lumpkin) and the sion IV poll are from Southmendous tournament run ptogram," Western Hills western Ohio, including Cinahd played good basketball at co~ch Lannis Timmons said. cinnati Hills Christian
the right time."
'~The kids believe in each Academy and Cincinnati
However, the road to the other and that's where they Country Day.
·
fmal four in Colu!llbu~ ~~II be want~d to play. I gave them
"This is an unbelievable
tough, n?t o~l~ .m D1vtston I the opportunity to pick and
but also m DiviSIOn II and IV that's ~hy we're in with region," said CCD coach
where the majority of the Winton Woods."
Ho~ard Brownstein," whose
state's top 10 teams are
Eldet: is another team that ln~l~ns w~nt. 19-1. In my
from Southwestern Ohio.
seems 'to excel at• touma- optruon, this IS the strongest
' "In my opinion, any of six ment time. Moeller's Kre-' field· in the 16 years I've
or seven (Division I) teams mer calls coach Joe Schoen- been at the school."
from Cincinnati could win feld's team; which twice
Besides CCD and CHCA,
the regional and gu to upset the' state's top-ranked No. 1-rariked Maria Stein
state," s.Wd M_9eller coach team (St.'· I~natius and St. Marion Local, Cedarville,
Carl Kremer, wliose C'ooad- Xavier), "dangerous.",
. South Charleston Southeasters won 1Jle Greater Catholic
Another contender is Oak ern, Minster and Reedsville
League South championship. Hills, the Greater
·Miami Eastern are entered in the
"We have a great group of Conference 1champion, and Southwestern tournament
seniors and we're pretty runner-.up Hamilton. And
CCD's core of six seniors.
confident. I truly believe our how about Loveland, a.team led the ·team to a 19-1 releague is the best in Ohio and that finished with a 19-1 re- cord, tying 'the 1992 team
to win it is an accomplish- cord but was snubbed at the for best in scho9l history.
ment"
seedingmeeting.
'
CCD history.

and Craig Cashen traded 3pointers in the final minute
to send the game into over-

time. Tim Schenke hit one
free throw to break the tie
and Elder, ranked No.5 in
The Enquirer's Division I
coaches poll, never trailed
again.
Kroeger came off the
bench in the second quarter
for Elder to go nine-nine
from the field for a gamehigh 22 points. Scott Benken and Tim Schenke each
had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Panthers.
Jordan Cornette led
No. 6 St. Xavier with 17
points.

BY JAMES WEBER
CoNTRIBUTOR
· EASTSPORTS@COMMUNITYPRESS.COM
Moeller High School has
always been proud of the family
aspect of its athletic and academic
programs. Of how sons follow
fathers and brothers joins brothers.
At no time was that more evident than on Friday, Feb. 9,
when the Moeller athletic family
said goodbye to its original gymnasium. The occasion was the
final home basketball game of
the season - the last one in the
facility before the Crusaders
move into a new gym next season.
This year's Crusaders look
like a fitting team to close the
facility ..
Two of its current team members are related to past Moeller
basketball All-Americans -Matt
Sylvester to his father, 1970
graduate Mike; and Nick Monserez to his brother, 1999 grad
Mike.
Several other players in the.
program had fathers play for
Moeller, and several coaches
have previous Moeller ties as
well.
"You have a lot of tradition
and continuity here," said Mike
Sylvester, who after his Moeller
days made a name for himself at
the collegiate, Olympic and professional levels. "There's my
family, Buddy Bell's family, the
Larkins. There are a lot of people
who have seen their sons through
here, add my grandsons will
probably go here. Moeller is
pretty young, but we're starting
to get that tradition."
With a dramatic 42-41 win
over Greater Catholic League
rival Elder, ·the Crusaders took a
big step towards the eighth
league championship in school
history. Moeller is 14-4 and 8-2

.

in the GCL South, a half-game
ahead of St. Xavier entering the
week.
Moeller played at Roger
Bacon on Feb. 13 and will go to
La Salle on Feb. 16. The Crusaders will clinch at least a tie for
the league title with one win.
While it wasn't Moeller's
prettiest game of the year - the
Crusaders trailed by 10 points in
the second quarter - the end
result was a picture Moeller fans
will remember for years:
After a tense, back-and-forth
final two minutes, Moeller
trailed by a point entering its
final possession. Sylvester- who
had 22 points, nine in the fourth
quarter -took a. handoff from
Scott Byrnes and drove to the
lane. He was closely guarded,
however, and passed to Monserez in the comer. The guard
launched a three-pointer.
The shot missed everything,
but senior center Clint Nagel was
there to catch it. He muscled his
way for a layup, which went in
as the buzzer sounded.
The gymnasium turned to
bedlam.
"Clint Nagel will always be
remembered as the one who
made the last shot in this gym,"
said Moeller head coach Carl
Kremer. "It's a great moment."
More tpan 150 Moeller bas-.
ketball alumni were in attendance, many wearing specially
made golf shirts. The group
included three of the school's
four All-Americans in the elder
Sylvester, Mike .Monserez and
Byron Larkin (1994 alum Bobby
Brannen was not able to attend).
"It just feels great being
here," said Monserez, now
attending Butler University in
Indianapolis. "I haven't had a
chance to meet a lot of these
guys. It was great to see my
l;>rother play.".

-

MARl II>. MarzjSTAFF

Many of the old guard of Moeller High School basketball assembled
for the'flnal game In the school's old gym. Here, former coach Jerry
Doerger watches the proceedings next to his former player Mike
Sylvester, the first of Moeller's four All-American hoopsters and the
father of current Crusader star Matt Sylvester.

The AU-Americans and seven
of Moeller's eight all-time head
basketball coaches were brought
to the floor for a halftime ceremony.
(The lone coach not in attendance, Dave Hammer, was
watching his son play for St.
Xavier).
After the game, two Moeller
graduates were drew the chance
to take a commemorative final
shot at each basket, a half court
try for $5,000. Both attempts
missed.
But the memories flowed.
"This was fantastic," said Bill
Daily; the program's first head
coach in 1961. "What a way to
go out. When we started, we
played three games before we
even had baskets here. At the
time; this gym seemed so big. It
seems real small now."
Members of the 1970 team,
leCl by Sylvester and coached by
Jerry Doerger, wer!! also reminiscent. That team tied the 199495 squad with an all-time schoolbest 21-3 record, which also·
matched the 1998-99 state champions for the most single-season
wins (21-6)>

The 1969-1970 team also had
an 18-game winning streak
which is still the school record.
"We would get together every
summer and it's amazing how
the stories never changed," said
Greg Sander. "We were all close.
We hung out together off the
floor and did everything together. Mike (Syfvester) could have
scored a lot more than he did. He
sacrificed for the team."
"We had seven guys, and all
seven got (college) scholarships," said Doerger. the exiled
McNicholas High School head
basketball coach serving a oneyear suspension. "When you get
your· sixth and seventh man a
scholarship, the coach's job is
easy. We were good enough to
win at state."
The school counts more than
350 varsity games in the gyrnnasium. The last two, including a
similarly intense last-second win
over St. Xavier the week before,
are added to a long line of
moments that will live on well
after the new building is chris.tened.
The 1970 team remembers a
multiple-overtime .victory over

;;. --.. Jl-f ~ 0 I
MARK D. MOTZ/STAFF
Moeller High School senior Matt- Sylvester leaps up to defentil
against Elder High School during the last-ever game In Moeller's
gym. Sylvester was the star of the show; scoring 22 points In a 4241 victory. Clint Nagel (32) scored the wlnnl111g points as time
expired, !rebounding an air ball and laying It ln.
Âˇ

\

Dayton_ Roth in whkh both
teams had 100 points and
Moeller's Al Elian scored a
career-high 30 points.
Roth had two guards who
would eventually play in the
NBA, including Sylvester's
future roommate at the University of Dayton, Donald Smith.
Mike Monserez- remembered
a victory during the 1997-98 season over a Roger Bacon squad
with future college players
Eugene Land and Brandon

Mcintosh. Both teams scered in
the 90s.
Kreiner closed the gym as the
sc[tool' s winningest head coach
with 174 victories, including five
GCL titles in 11 seasons. He has
won two-thirds of his games at
Moeller.
"I really respect this school,"
he said. "And to ~ave all these
guys here means a lot to me."

III.
Elder breezed into Saturday's District final against the
Crusaders with an impressive
60-35 victory over Colerain in
the Cincinnati Division I uppet
bracket sectional finals at UC's
Shoemaker Center Monday
night.
.
The Panthers, 17-6, got 17
points from Tim Schenke and
· held Colerain to 25 percent
shooting in the first half.
Moeller, 18-4 and the GCL
South champion, won both regular-season games. The game
is 1 p.m. Saturday at UD Arena.
"We're just ready right
now," Schenke said of Moeller.:.
"We just have to play with the
intensity like we have the last
three games."
:, Tl).e other District title
game will pit defending state
champion St. Xavier against
Vandalia-Butler, which beat
Troy in overtime Monday, at 7
p.m. at UD.
The Bombers, 17-5, advanced by beating Withrow
59-43 \n ·Monday's secondgame.
"We're right where we
want to be," said senior guard
Steve Callahan.

Panthers anticipating
rematch with Moeller
J-~·0/
By Kevin Goheen

bounds, two steals and a pair
of assists against Colerain.
Fellow senior Scott Benken
Tim Schenke. didn't hesitate with his smile or his an- scored just six points but had
eight assists and five re·
swer.
bounds.
"We're ready for this
Schenke scored five of El·
gaq1e," said the Elder senior
der's
first seven points, includforward, looking ahead to Saturday's 1 p.m. district final ing a pair of high flying dunks.
Senior point guard Jake Bamatchup with Moeller. "We
don't need anything to get us zeley delivered a perfect alleyoop pass that Schenke caught
up for this one." ·
while
cutting baseline and
The sixth-seeded Panthers
(17-6) earned a third shot at threw down for Elder's first
Moeller this season with a points. His steal and slam
60-35 dismantling of unseeded while being fouled with 4:34
Colerain (14-9) for the upper left in the opening period
bracket sectional champion- made it 7-5, and he added a
ship at the University of Cin- layup with 44 seconds to go in
cinnati's Shoemaker Center the quarter to give Elder the
lead for good, 9-7.
Monday night.
Elder also limited Colerain
Moeller, the No. 3 seed in
the sectional tournament, beat senior guard Mike Ferris, the
Eldet twice during the regi.llar leading scorer in the Greater
season en route to winning its Miami Conference at 14.9
sixth Greater Catholic League points a game, to. eight points
South championship iz:l nine on two-of-seven shooting.
Schenke supplied most of
seasons. That included a lastsecond 42-41 win last month at that pressure.
Moeller.
"We just tried not to
Schenke, a 6-foot-6 senior give him open looks," said El·
forward, led all scorers with 17· der coach Joe Schoenfeld. "As
points while adding five re- soon as he caught the ball,
Post staff reporter

'

we wanted to be there."
The Panthers outscored
Colerain 14-5 in the second
quarter by utilizing their size
advantage. Schenke scored another seven points in the quarter, all coming iri the paint.
Colerain turned the ball
over 17 times, compared to 11
for Elder.
The Cardinals, who had
beaten GMC regular season
champion and fifth-seeded
Oak Hills in the first round,
made just 14-of-40 shots from
the field and were outrebound·
ed 31-22. Senior forward Doug
Monaghan led the Cardinals
with 12 points and five rebounds.
"We really weren't patient
enough on offense," said Colerain coach Jim Walther.
"We shot the ball when we
were challenged and we
shouldn't have shot it."
COLERAIN
ELDER

Moeller senior Matt Sylvester, stretching at a practice, is now 6 feet 8 and hopes to lead the Crusaders to a second state title. His
father, Mike, top right, played at Moeller in 1969 with Mark Daniel and coach Jerry Doerger.

rowing up in Troy, Ohio,
Carl Kremer was a diehard
Dayton Flyers fan, which
means that he'll never forget the
game Mike Sylvester had against
UCLA in 1974. It was the year the
Bruins' 88-game winning streak
was fmally interrupted and the
year Dayton, behind 38 points that
the senior from Moeller High
School cpaxed out of some inner
reserve and a cool left-handed
jump shot, took John Wooden's
team to three overtimes in the
NCAA Tournament.
After that, Kremer lost track of
Sylvester for a while. He knew
that the feisty forward's brother,

G

Steve, was a fixture on the
Oakland Raiders' offensive line,
but he didn't realize that his
Dayton hero had become a superstar in the Italian professional
league, that Sylvester had won a
silver medal with Italy's Olympic
team in 1980 or that the former
Flyer's older son had died in an
auto accident at the age of 4.
The Sylvesters returned to
Cincinnati when the remaining
son, Matt, was entering third
grade. That's when Mike Sylvester, retired after 17 European
seasons, took up youth coaching
and installed the tallest boy on the
team at point guard.
Matt had the ball skills and
hand-eye coordination for the job.
Those were things his dad had

been cultivating since the kid
could catch a rolled-up sweat sock.
"Catching," says the senior Sylvester, "is an underestimated skill
in basketball.
''WhenÂˇ Matthew was little, I'd
throw him sweat socks for hours
at a time. We'd play until he could
catch 30 in a row, and I'd make
sure somehow that he missed one
so we could keep going. Even if he
got to 30, he'd say, 'Let's do it
again.'"
Even at 6 feet 8, the young
Sylvester has retained the touch
he learned so early, but he is not a
point guard anymore. Kremer, the
Moeller coach, hasn't budged him
from forward since he put the

Sylvester keys
Moeller ·in rout
of De La :Salle
By Steve Brand, srAF'F' WRITER
ENCINITAs- Before the National Prep Classic, two players were placed in the spotlight;
front and center.
Concord De La Salle's Joe See, called by many
the best shooting guard in
Moeller 75
the nation, and Cincinnati
Archbishop Moeller's
De La Salle 56 Matt Sylvester, one of the
·
nation's top forwards.
When they squared off last night, it was almost
· a draw in scorebook, but not on the cowt
Sylvester scored the :first nine points of the
game for the Crusaders, who jumped on top
early and pulled away to upset De La Salle 7~56
in the National Division semifinals at Torrey
Pines High.
Moeller (~2) moves into tonight's 7 o'clock
championship against Corona Centennial, which
defeated Dobson of Mesa, Ariz.; 71-66.
'This is a dream come true," said Sylvester,
who scored 29 against the Spartans, ranked No.
1 in·California and No.8 nationally by Fox Sports.
See :finished with 30 of his team's 56 points but
would take little joy in the individual effort, which
came despite being slowed by tendinitis in both
knees.
It was the second loss for De La Salle against
eight wins. Last year, De La Salle lost to. Santa
Ana Mater Dei in the National Prep Classic
championship en route to the state title and a
31-1 record.
'This team is more athletic than last year's, but.
that team had better chemistry," said the 6-foot
See. "The loss here last year was an awakening,
so hopefully it'll be the same this year."
•Although See doWnplayed his physical 'condition he was noticably slower attacking the basket 'last night His knees have not affected his
three-point shot
Nor his floor play as he contributed five assists, three steals and five rebounds.
De La Salle coach Frank Allocco marvels at his
guard's play and courage.
"His knees were so bad~ he was only able to
practice a half-hour a day," said Allocco. ''What
Joe brings us is a steadying force, keeping everyone on an even keel. He never panics, lie has ice
water in his veins."
He can shoot a little, too.
Allocco noted that in one game he tossed in
six long-range :field goals, two mor;. t}lan last
night
"He's a great shooter, he doesn't miss- even
in practice," said Allocco.
see didn't argue.
"Each time I shoot a three, I expect it to go in,"
said See,' who long agocommitted to Oregon
State. Sylvester is going to Ohio State.

Moeller High Sclllool's Clint Nagel goes to the basket for two
of his 12 points against the St. Xavier High Schoo! defense
· in front of a capacity crowd at the second-last game to be
played In the Moe gym. The Crusaders didn't disappoint the
home faithful, conting up with a 64-62 victory. Nagel finished
added nine rebounds and a key blocked shot in the last
minute. Mike Sylvester led ~oeller with 18 points ..

• Moeller.-62, Chami·
nade-Julienne 52 -Josh
Duncan scored 11 fourth
quarter points, inCluding ·g.
of-10 from the foul line. to
. lead the Crusaders to their
first victory in the .Brisben
Family Edueation Center.
The Crusaders their opened
. their new gym with losses
to St. Xavier and McNicholas. . .
. .. ~ · .·
. Mter a · sluggish ,)tart;
Moeller began its comeback
late 'in the third quarter:
1 Andre.w Backman- hit a 3. Pcliilter 'at the end of the

...t.:..

.

-~·

.•.. . _; .':" ·

quart~r. to· pull within t~o: ."

Jeff Reisert sank a 3 midway through the fourth
quarter to give the Crusaders the lead for good. .
J0sh Duncan led all scor2-1

The Moeller High School basketball team took the shot Elder
coach Joe Schoenfeld wanted the
Crusaders to attempt in the waning seconds of Friday night's
3reater Catholic League South'
;howdown at Moeller.
Crusaders coach Carl Kremer
was shocked his star senior forward, Matt Sylvester, didn't take
that final shot when he- had an
opportunity.
- ~
·
So what else should happen
but that an overshot three-pointer
by Moeller senior forward Nick
Monserez be pulled down by senior center Clint Nagel and put
back in just before the final buzzer to give the Crusaders a 42-41
win against the Panthers.
·
"As soon as it went up, I knew
it was long," said ;Nagel of Monserez's shot. "I thought I had
three or four seconds left, enough
for a shot fake."
Said Schoenfeld: "It's a fate
kind of thing. We played great defense on that play. You don't want
Sylvester taking that final shot
and beating you."

The Crusadlilr&, ranked No.2 in
The _)'ost's Ohio-area Division I
poll, are 14-4 overall and alone
atop the GCL South at 8-2. Fifthranked Elder (12-6) dropped to 6-4
in the league after suffering its
second straight loss. The Panthers
fell to McNicholas, 68-65, in overtime Tuesday.
Moeller made 19 of 40 shots in
the game, while Elder hit on 16 of
35. Sylvester tallied a game-high
22 points, while senior guard Mike
Mahon le_d Elder with 10 points.
Moeller seemed to have taken
control with a 38-34 lead with two
minutes left .. But .a turnover and
subsequent basket by Elder se·
nior guard Tim Schenke made it a
two-point game with 1:44 remaining. Sylvester missed an open
three-pointer on Moeller's next
possession, allowing Elder a
chance to tie the score.
Panthers senior center Phil
Bengel grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled while scor·-ing on the put-back. He made his
free throw, giving Elder a 39-38
advantage with 54 seconds left.
Sylvester answered 12 seconds
later, dropping in a one-handed
shot while cutting across the .middle of the lane to' regain the lead
for Moeller, 40-39.
After calling a timeout, Moeller
came out and tried · to.-. pressure·
the ball hard. Bad move, as
Schenke took an alley-oop pass
t·lb See MOELLER on 28- ul

Moeller: Gym's farewell
From 18
from senior guard Jake, Bazeley and dunked the ball
with 26 seconds left to put
the Panthers back up by
one. The small but loud Elder crowd, which packed
one corner of the gym, went
wild. ·
"That was a great job on
their part," said Moeller
coach Carl Kremer of the
pass. "Obviously, getting out
after them was not wise."
Moeller's overflowing•
crowd got the final chance
to celebrate, though.
The final play called for a
quick handoff at the top of
the key between Moeller senior guard Scott Byrnes and
Sylvester, who would pre-

sumably take the final shot
in the lane. But when Elder's defense collapsed
quickly on Sylvester, he
passed out to Monserez in
the corner.
"If I was open for the
three, I was going to take it,"
said Monserez. "But Jake
Bazeley made a great recovery and came rushing out at
me and forced me to rush
.the shot. Luckily, Clint was
there."
It was the final game at
Moeller's. gym. The school
will be opening a new 1,350seat gym next season.
To signify the event, seven of the school's eight
all-time head coaches and a
large group· of basketball
alumni - including former

High proflle. That would be a
good term to use for the first-·
\ team members of The Post's
AU-Metro boys' basketball
teams, especially in Division I.
Of the 10 players, four-have
signed to play at Division I college
programs next season and two others are juniors who will probably be
in the same situation next year.
The other four were the main catalysts in leading their teams to a
combined 63-17 regular-season
record.
Matt Sylvester of Moeller and
Branden Fisher of Mariemont are
The Post's Players of the Year in
Division I and Division II-IV,
respectively. Sylvester was the
third-highest scorer in the
area, at 21.4 points per game
during the regular season,
while Fisher edged him
out for the second spot

behind Loveland's Kevin Schappell with
.a 21.5 average.
Schappell, who averaged 21.7 points per
game, was named to the second team in
Division I.
Sylvester is one of the four
Division I signees, along with
Western Hills' Danny Horace
(Miami), Jordan Cornette of
St. Xavier (Notre Dame) and
Purcell Marian's Keith
Jackson (Xavier). He's going
to Ohio State after being
named co-Player of the Year
in the state by the Associated
Press. The Crusaders won the
Greater Catholic League
South championship and a
sectional crown but were
beaten in the district fmal by
Elder.
Fisher's play, which earned
him Player of the Year honors in the
Cincinnati Hills League, helped the
Warriors to their fust sectional championship since 1995. Mariemont had won
just two games in the 1998-99 season and

BASKETBALL
ALLSTARS: Moeller forward Matt
Sylvester and Mariemont's
Branden Fisher will play in the
boys annual North-South AllStar games next Sunday at Otterbein College.
The Ohio State-bound Sylvest~r averaged 21.4 points this
seas'Jn and vas named fin.tteam all-state in Division I hy
the Associated Prt!ss. Fisher averaged 21.8 points for Mariemont, the Division Ill sectional
H- I - 0 i
champion.

only six in 1999-00.
At 6 feet 4, Fisher was a tough matchup
on the offensive wing and on the perimeter of the Mariemont's 3-2 zone.
Elder's win against Moeller was just
one on the way to the Division
I state fmal, where the
Panthers lost, 49-46, to
Cleveland St. Ignatius. Coach ,
Joe Schoenfeld's group wasn't
highly thought of individually '
but played tough defense and
utilized several size mismatches it could create with its lineup.
Schoenfeld is The Post's
Division I Coach of the Year
and Eric Coulter is the Division
II-IV Coach of the Year for the
job he has done at Cincinnati
Hills Christian Academy.
He took over at CHCA four
seasons ago. His first team won just two
games , but this season the Eagles went
18-2 in the. regular season and tied
Cincinnati Country Day for the Miami
Valley Conference title.

The final game in Moeller's
original gym will stand as one
of its most memorable.
Senior center Clint Nagel
put back a missed shot in
traffic in the final second,
giving Moeller ·a 42-41 vic-.
tory over Elder Friday night
before a sellout crowd that
included most of Moeller's
basketball history.
More than 150 former
varsity players and seven of

Last~secop.d

shot edges Elder 42-41

the school's eight vatsity corner with five seconds re-coaches witnessed a game maining. "As soon as it went
that puts Moeller (14-4, 8-2 up, I saw it was long.';
Greater Catholic League
The ball missed everySouth) within a game of thing·and landed in a crowd
~linching its first GCL South ·on the far side of the basket.
"Clint just grabbed it. It was
title since 1998. .
"I just knew I had to get'. ~ 50-50 thing, and he
in position incase" something outjumped the guy," said
happened," Nagel'said of his Moeller's Matt Sylvest~r,.
thoughts when Nick Mon- who had a game-high 22
serez put up a shot from the points and nine rebounds.·

Sylvester, who had scored
all nine of Moeller's points
in the final quarter to that
point, was the first choice to
take the shot. But he was
closely guarded and passed
the ball to Monserez, who
was open in the corner.
"I thought we played
great defense. We didn't let
Sylvester take the shot " Elder coach Joe Sch~nfeld

Basketball

syJ.vester, Jackson
shine
in
defeat
'-lj o I'

El-l~'

Cf I

The Assoriail' l'rr.~s

·

WESTERVILLE - Matt
Sylvester of Moelier High
scored 18 points and Purcell
Marian's Keith Jackson had
17, but it wasn't enough for
their South team to avoid a
133-99 loss in the boys' Division 1-11 All-Star game at
\.
Otterbein College.
Derek Fey of Willard
scored 23 points and was
chosen the game's MVP.
Brian lngleright of Avon
Lake added 21 points, while
six bthers reached double
digit~.

said .. "We forced a bad shot,
an airball, and if it hits the
rim, we win."
Elder stunned the crowd
by recovering from a 38-34
deficit in the game's final
two minutes. The Panthers
first got a short jumper from
Tim Schenke and then, following a Sylvester miss, Elder center Phil Bengel got
an offensive rebound, scored
and was fouled. His foul shot
See MOELLER, Page 02

r~ e \f ~~ T

c~ fi~ £;) c~ r~ ? [~ ~ ~- o..

Area's best J-l?-u'f

chase titles
By Kellie Taylor
Post staff reporter

Some of the city's best high school basketball
players-have already signed with college programs.
Others are so young that
·
they haven't even earned
their drivers' licenses yet,
proof enough that talent
> Boys' sectional ·
comes in all kinds of shapes,
tournament brackets.
sizes and ages when it
Page 4C
comes to high school hoops.
The Post takes a look at
four of the top playe~s in the
.
·
city this year as the boys' basketball sectional tourna·
ments begin today - Finneytown .freshman Mark
Hawkins, Anderson sophomore Chns Norwe~l, Loveland junior Kevin Schappell and Moeller semor Matt
Sylvester.
See PREPS on 4C

~Jf-t>i

The Post's Players of the Week
• Boys: Moeller senior forward Matt Sylvester helped the
Crusaders clinch at least a share of the GCL South title with 47
points in a pair of wins. The Ohio State-bound forward had 22
points and nine rebounds in a 42-41 win over Elder and then tallied
2!'i points in a 67-49 win at Roger Bacon.

Brackets

Freshman:
Finneytown's
Mark Hawkins

Sophomore:
Anderson's
Chris Norwell

senior:
.·
Moeller's
Matt Sylvester

C•thct fup Performers: F Austin Mitchell, Cincinnati Country Day (In the Indians'
··, 3o win JVert:HCA. the senior scored 11 points to help ceo avenge its lone loss of
the season. He then came back against North College Hill to score 19 points and pull
down 10 rebounds In a 57-50 road win); C Chris Norwell, Anderson (Totaled 47 po1nts
and 20 rebounds in wins over Harrison and Amelia); G Phil Landes, Mariemont (Made
11-of-16 shots and 18-ol-19 free throws In scoring 44 points In the Warriors' upset of
Reading an I win over Wyoming. He also added eight rebounds and eight assists); F
Brad Hat•ielu, Felicity (Scored 64 points In three games, while pulling down 32 rebounds,
blocking 10 shots and making seven steals. Against Fayetteville, he had 28 points, 10
rebounds, five blocks and five steals); G Justin Wilson. Wilmlng1on (Had 80 points as the
Hurricanes went2-1 last week, beating Kings and Goshen and dropping a llve·polnt loss
to state-ranked washington Court House); G Paul Volkerding, Harrison (Scored 24
points against Mason and 25 against Turpin, Including going 10-of-11 from the foul line);
C Matt Armbruster, New Richmond (Had 19 points and 14 rebounds as the Lions upset
SBC-Ieading Clermont Northeastern, 89-87, In ov~rtlme last Friday).

ps• Teams vie for titles
•

From lC

~·-rr--<Jl

MOELLER SENIOR MATT SYLVESTERSylvester committed to play at Ohio State
University before the season even started, but.
that didn't stop the 6-foot-7 forward from
concentrating on his last high school season.
Sylvester is fourth in the citY in scoring,
averaging 21.2 points per game. His 22 points
Friday in a win against La Salle helped the
Crusaders (16-4) clinch their sixth Greater
Catholic League title in the last nine years.
A state championship, like ~the one he was
a part of in 1999, would be the perfect ending
to· a stellar high school career for the threeyear starter.
Sylveswr and the rest of the Crusaders
will have a week to prepare for the first step
to that goal, earning a first-round bye in the
Division I sectional tournament.
Moeller, the No. 3 seed, plays the winner
of Milford and Northwest on Feb. 27 at Millett Hall on the campus of Miami University.
LOVELAND JUNIOR KEVIN SCHAPPELL - Before his family went on .a vacation
to Hawaii several years ago, Schappell had to
do some research. Not on the most popular
beaches or best restaurants; Schappell wanted to make sure he could find a YMCA where
he could play basketball.

Moeller
bids
fond
farewell
·
.
. . .
. cl - r r..r;.·· ar
he banners came to bfe: Hangmg
ev.er vigilant, the blue field~ covered in golden letters and tnm ·
came down off the walls' and appeared
in living flesh before the masses.
Many ghosts of Moeller High
School basketball past were eminently
present, looking to the future as. th~
Crusaders closed their former home
court Feb. 9 with a 42-41 win against
Elder High Sch9ol.
"This is cool," said one of the
ghosts, a certain Byron Larkin.
Larkin, of course, is a Moeller
immortal on the court and on the gridiron, earning All-American status in
both football and basketball before he
graduated in 1984. ·
My first memory of the Moeller
gym dates back to Larkin's senior year
- I was a St. Xavier freshman then when he and St. X' s Jeff Wolf staged
an epic one-on-one game within the
game.
If memory serves, Larkin finished
with 31 points, Wolf with 28. When
we could tear our eyes away from the

s·Ide.line· ··..,

T

.

Stones

· ·. ··

! ·'" .

.

Mark D.
Motz
game, we looked dumbstruck up on the
stage at then Xavier University head
coach Bob Staak who was there to
scout.
.
Big time.
Staak eventually got his man when
Larkin picked hoops over football for
his college sport. He became XU's alltime leading scorer and one of the top
20 scorers in NCAA history with 2,696
points.
.·
.
One night 19 years ago in the
Moeller gym set his destiny in motion.
Larkin was a sophomore. He had
· played the season on the reserve team,
but was called up to the varsity for the
final game of the year against Purcell.
"I don't think I made a shot in .

~~ gym that ho11se<J. 40 ye~s

warmups," he said. ~'And when the
game started, I sat as flU' away from the
. coach as I could, the furthest spot at
the end of the bench."
The game started. Purcell ju.mped to
an early nine- or 10-point lead and
coach Dave Hammer was pacing the
sidelines, looking for a way to stop the
bleeding.
Larkin was looking for a way to disappear.
'
"I was looking away and praying,
'Please don't put me in,' he said. "I
was scared to death."
Sure enough, Hammer stood in front
of the quivering sophomore.
"Larkin, get in there," he hollered.
"So I go in and I take a shot,"
Larkin said. "It rolled around on the
rim and I could hear my mom up in the
stands, kind of going 'Ooohh, ooohh,'
trying to help it go in."
It didn't.
But Larkin's next shot did. And the
next. And the next.
By the time the game ended, he had
29 points.

ofJ;rist~EY

"And I was surprised as anyone in,
the gym," he said. "That one night, that .
one game in here, changed the way I
looked at myself. It changed my confidence."
Larkin scored 31 in his next game, a
sectional tournament contest, and was a
full-fledged phenomenon;
"When I came in tonight, (football)
Coach (Steve) Klonne yelled at me to
get in the weight room," Larkin said.
"After that, I spent all my time in here
instead of lifting for football."
Larkin is happy to be part of the history and happier to see a new gym for
the Crusaders on the way.
"It was great to see all the old players and all the otd coaches," Larkin
said: "I think it says a lot about the
Moeller community that so many of
MARK D. MoTZ/STAFF
them were here tonight.
Byron Larkin applauds the 2000-200'1
"Any athlete, once they're out of the Moeller bsketball team.
'
program, wants to see that program do·
Mark D. Motz is the sports editor :
better. ThaCs what this is. I have great for the Community Press East Group.;
memories here, but it's time to move
Readers may call him at 248-8600, e>.j.
on."
' 221.

.

:;,-1iJ 411

Prep basketball! League races heat up with week to play
~4

.

.

.

.

Fantastic finish for Moeller
.

.

Last~second

By Carey Hoffman
Enquirer contriiJlllor

The final game in Moeller's
original'gym will stand as one
of its most memorable.
Senior center Clint Nagel
put back a missed shot in
traffic in the final second,
giving Moeller a 42-41 victory over Elder Friday night
before a sellout crowd that
included most
Moeller's
basketball history.
More- than 150 former
varsity players and seven of

:ot

_ft</6{ ~po /o 1

Congrats

Student accepts
Xavier scholarship
Ryan Skeldon has accepted an academic scholarship to
attend Xavier University.
Recipients must rank in the
top 25 percent of their graduating class and achieve a 24 or
higher on the ACf or 1100 or
higher on the SAff
Ryan, a senior at Moeller
High School. is the son of
Elaine and Jim Skeldon of
West Chester Township.

I

sho_t edges Elder 42-41

the school's eight varsity corner with five seconds recoaches witnessed a game maining. !'As soon as it went
that puts Moeller (14-4, 8-2 up, I saw it was long."
Greater Catholic· League
The ball missed. everySouth} within a game of thing and landed in a crowd
clinching its first GCL South ·on the far side of the basket.
title since 1998:
.
"Clint just grabbed it. It was
"I just knew I had to get a 50-50: thi~g, and he
in position in case something outjumi>ti4 the. guy," said
happenel;l," Nagel said of his Moeller's ·Matt Sylvester,
thoughts· when Nick Mon- . who .had:· a game-high. 22
serez put up a shot from the points and-nine 'rebounds.·
• Moeller 76, Syca·
more 43 - Moeller's defense led to 19 points off
turnovers, and .the Crusaders built a 37-point lead in fl' 1
the fourth quarter.
Senior forward Matt Sylvester led the Crusad- ~
ers with 20 points.

A listing of local National per's coverage area:
Madeira: Anastacia Zaczek.
Merit Scholarship finalists from
JYioeller:
Erik Wellinghoff,
area private and parochial
Deer
Park.
schools. This is not meant to be a
Ursuline Academy: Laura
complete list, but only a list of
Hils.
Kenwood.
students who live in this newspa-.

..2 . . ;;..t-IJ r

. Sylvester, who had scored
all nine of Moeller's points
in the .final quartet to that
point, was the first choice to
take the . shot. But he was
closely guarded and passed
the ball to 'Monserez, who
was open in the corner.
"I thought we played
great defense. We didn't let
Sylvester take the shot," Elder coach Joe Schoenfeld.

said. "We forced a bad shot,
an airball, and if it hits the
rim, we win."
Elder stunnea the crowd
by recovering from a 38-34
deficit in. the game's final
two minutes. The Panthers
first got a short jumper from
Tim Schenke and then, following a Sylvester miss, Elder center Phil Bengel got
an offensive rebound, scored
and was fouled. His foul shot
See ~DELLER, Page_ 02

Moeller: Edges

Elder~~

.
d·shot:;1.-[tJ-(}{
on Iast-secon
·~·~."':·
From Page in
.
.
made 1t 39-38 Elder w1th 54
seconds left.
Sylvester answered with a
12-foot jumper in the lane
with 39 seconds left. ~ut'
Elder again responded.
Coming out of a timeout,
point guard Jake Bazeley got
the ball at the top of the key,
hesitated, then lofted a perfeet alley-oop pass to a backCutting Schenke • who dunked
with 25 seconds .left.
.• • ,
That created the· poss!billt Y 0 f Elder ruining Moeller's
final
game in the old gym.
"
. It probably would have

been the worst loss:t~ve.ever
experienced," Sil'.Y'E!ster
said. "My dad was here; all.
the alums were in Ui&house.
We wanted to show." them
this is still the place:.where
championships are rrr:rde."
Elder, which could· have tied
Moeller atop the GCL.vSouth'
standings with a victoty.;-fell to
12-6 and ·6-4 in leagu~ play.
Guard Mike Mahon "led the
Panthers with 10 po~ts;;
ELOER (41) - Miller 1 o 2. BlzeJ.ey 3 3 9,
Bcnken 3 0 6, Schenke 2 I 5, ~R)o'il 4 0 10,

Moeller senior Matt Sylvester, averaging about
22 points a game. The 6'7" forward had big
games in a recent San Diego tournament,
scoring 29 against both DeLaSalle and
Centennial high schools, and, back home,
notched 25 vs. Princeton and Elder. As a
sophomore, Matt played on the Crusaders'
Ohio state championship squad and was
named to the state all-tournament team. As a
junior, he averaged 22 points-8 rebounds-2
blocks-3 assists while earning 1st team all Gonference, city and
district honors, and was named 2nd team all Ohio. An AAU All
American, Matt has basketball bloodlines -.dad Mike played for
Moeller, University of Dayton and professionally in Italy. Matt will
play next year for Ohio State University.
Coach's Quote- "Matt is a highly skilled, athletic basketball player.
He can play any position on the floor and he is a prideful, intense
competitor." -Carl Kremer, Basketball Coach

.;2. ..,., J-41

..,.

"We are proud of the diversity of our athletic successes and the
coaches and athletes who have made them all possible."
-Dick Beerman-Barry Borman, Athletic Directors

The big· guns made their,
expected noise, as did the
Moeller home crowd. But it
was the supporting actors
who shone in Moeller's
thrilling 64-62 win o:ver
i St Xavier Friday night.
., ·Moeller fonvard Mat} Sylvester (Ohio State-bound) ·Jed
the Crusaders, ranked No. 6
j in the Enquirer's Division I
' coaches poll, with 18 points as
Moeller (12-4, 7-2 Greater
Catholic League) strengthened its claim to first place in
the. Greater Catholi~ League
South Division.
St. X forward Jordan Cornette (Notre Dame-bound)
scored 20 points - all in an
amazing second half - to lead
the No.2 Bombers (14-3,
7-3). Cornette didn't ~tart
because of a torn memscus
in his left knee suffered last
Friday, and he took .a while
to get warmed up Fnday.
"They're a great team and
showed great resiliencf, but
I give our guys credit for
hanging in there," :tv.foeller
coach Carl Kremer said.
Sylvester and Cornette
were expectedly great, but ·
Moeller prevailed with big
gaines from several others:
• Senior guard Scott
Byrnes made a steal and
driving layup with ,35 seconds to go, giving Moeller·
the game's decisive score:
• Senior forward Clint
Nagel had 12 points and nine
rebound~ and put the defe~­
sive clainps on Cornette m
the final minutes.
• Junior guard Jimmy Wood
came off the bench to score 12
points, and senior forward
Nick Monsercz had 10.
· St. X rallied from several
12-point deficits to take the
lead. in the fourth quarter.
But Moeller had too much
· depth and too much boost
from the sellout crowd.

•

Moeller: Edges St. Xavier
. From Page 01) - J-() I With the game tied 62-62 · another clear shot.
and St. X playing for the last
St. X coach Scott Martin
The action got overheated shot, Moeller's Byrnes darted said his team showed great
with 4:52 left, when an alter- in front of a Bombers pass just resolve, with Cornette
cation under Moeller's bas- above the 3-point line. He playing with a large knee
ket involved several players ·drove for i:he clinching layup brace. Also, regular point
from both teams. Kremer as Moeller's student section, .guard Steve Callahan (ankle)
was among those rushing in which filled one side of the did not dress.
·
to break it up, and the refer- gym, jumped and screamed
"Good teams have to overees consulted for several and waved its shirts.
· come that, but I'm still pro!Jd
minutes before calling off~eiByrnes said the previous of what we did," Martin said.
ting fouls, plus a technical Moeller-St. X game, in which "Our kids didn't quit, in a
foul on Moeller.
Moeller lost a 10-point lead tough place to play."
The ramifications could be
"We played man (defense). in losing to the Bombers in
the· whole game, and we December, was hanging in felt: in today' s District I tournament seedings.
were tired there at the end,"- the air.
"Hopefully this helps us,"
Kremer said. "That's when I
"It was in the back of my
think our crowd put us over mind," Byrnes said. "I didn't Kremer said. "It could have.
the top."
·
want them to wait to get that a huge impact on the draw."
ST. XAVIER (82) - Gtogan I 4 6; Bast 4 0 9;
Moeller led by 12 points on last shot, so I took a chance Shriver
I 2 4; Heeki1 2 0 5; Cornette 9 I 20;
Wiliams
2 I 6; ~ashen 4 3 12. Totas; 23 II 62.
several occasions, the last time and made the steal."
MOEUER (84) -Tabler 2 0 5; Byrnes 3 I 7;
Monserez
Nagel 5 2 12; Sylvester 7 3
at 45-33late in the third quarIn the· final seconds, Cor- 18; Wood 34 22 I12.O; Totals;
24 10 64.
ter. But St. X rallied behind nette launched a 3-pointer St. Xavier ...................... 10 12 21 19-82
Moeller .......................... 18 13 11 16-84
Cornet~e to take the lead early that just missed. A St. X
3-polnters; StX-Cornelte, Bast, Williams,
Cashen; Moe-Monserez 2, Wood 2, Ta·
in the fourth period, and from player tried to tap in the ball, Heel<ln,
bier, Sylvester. Records; SIX 14·3 (7·3 GCL
there it see-sawed.
but the Bombers couldn't get South), Moe 12·4 (7·2).

'..

IMoeller
hangs On
this time
Crusaders top St. X;
. lead G.CL with Elder
By Kevin Goheen
. Post contributor

, .

.

,

DAVID KOHL/for The Post

Moeller's. Scott Byrnes (4) goes up for a layup while St. Xavier's John Shriver pursues from
behind during first period action at Moeller Friday night. The Crusaders won, 64-62.

.

?-/~ ..1.-:I

/ .

. The memory was still fresl;l in the minds of Moeller's basketball 'players.
·
'·
·
The memory of letting a 10-pQint fourth-quarter lead
slip away in a 63-54 loss at St. Xavier in December. ·
·The rematch at Moeller Friday night was almost a
repeat.
.
Moeller had as much as a 12-point lead in the third
quarter only to see St. Xavier come back to take the
· iead in the fourth quarter.
This time, though, the Crusaders fought back. After
a steal and layup by senior guard Scott Byrnes with 34
seconds left and a final St. Xavier three-point attempt
by senior forward Jordan Cornette that was off the
mark, the Crusaders had themselves a 64-62 win.
· The victory puts Moeller, 12-4 and ranked No. 3 in
The Post's Ohio-area poll, in a first-place tie with Elder
for the Greater Catholic League South lead. with a 7-2
record.
Secofid-ranked St. Xavier, despite 20 second-half
points by Cornette, falls. to 14-3 overall and 7-3 in the·
league with its ~econd consecutive loss.
Asked about another fourth-quarter collapse, Moeller senior forward Matt Sylvester said: "It crossed my
mind a little."
The Ohio State-bound Sylvester led the Crusaders
with 18 points.
"We've been practicing all week with playing with a
lead," he said, "and then Scotty came up with that big
steal."
Byrnes' heroics capped a wild fourth quarter that
saw six ties, a near bench-clearing brawl and three
technical fouls called.

Moeller coach Carl Kremer's assessment was that
his youthful Crusaders
played "pretty good basketball" for 30 minutes.
Actually,' it was more like
31 minutes, 40 seconds. But
Moeller faltered in the last
20 seconds, turning over the·
ball twice and allowing the
Hamilton Big Blue to come.
from behind and post ;t 58-56
win in the i-wireless Invitational Hoops Classic at. Xavier University's Cintas Center Friday night.
Hamilton senior forward
Bryant Jackson intercepted
Moeller senior guard Jim
Wood's pass near the Crusaders' free throw line and
went· all the way for the ·
uncontested layup that gave
the Big Blue a 57-56 lead
with 16.8 seconds left.
"I was going . to try to
dunk it, but I knew I would·
get in trouble if I tried," said
the 6-foot-1 Jackson, who
scored six points.
The Cincinnati Enquirer/CRAIG RUTILE

-,__........,.- ...... . . -• Moeller.62, Elder·
50 - Nick Monserez scored
10 of his 12 points in· the
fourth quarter to lead Moeller to the comeback victory.
The Crusaders trailed
I 40-34 after three quarters.
Monserez was .• 7-for-8
1
from the free throw line in
the fourth quarter and
scored all12 of his points in
the second half. j- l--4- l
Moeller's Matt Sylvester
was 10-for-2Lfrom the field
on his way· to a game-high
25'points.
·
.........,,....

------·--·-·-- ··
When Matt Sylvester served a
two-game suspension for an
a!Lercation on the court, it tame
down to other Crusaders to step
up.
Without Sylvester -a senior
forward for Moeller High
School's varsity basketball team
and one of the city's leading
scorers - the Crusaders had to
adjust.
They think they did so effectively.
"We knew we had to be more
patient and play together as a
team," said starting guard Nick
Monserez. "When Matt is in
there, he takes most of the shots,
so we knew we had to work the
ball around a lot more."
Monserez, a 6-foot-5 senior,
has stepped up his game recently
and taken on a bigger leadership
role. In Moeller's second game
without Sylvester last week
against Kettering Alter, Monserez led the team with 19 points
inc'luding three baskets from
three-point range.
The Crusaders still fell to
undefeated Alter, the top ranked
Division II team in the state and
leader of the Greater Catholic
League North. But it only was by
a hard-fought four-point margin,
50-46.
Sylvester returned for the Jan.
19 home contest against Hamilton Badin and collected 23
points. Monserez continued his
offensive prowess with a seasonhigh 21 to lead Moeller to a con-

vincing win.
Moeller is now 9-4, and 4-2 in
the GCL, with the four losses
coming to teams who have only
lost one game between them.
. "We knew we had to get back
on track," Monserez said: "We
knew we couldn't have another
loss in the GCL."
"I think our guys believe they
can win without Matt," said
Moeller head coach Carl Kiemer. "We have a lot of talent.
We played Alter right down to
the end, and we've lost to some
pretty good teams.''
Monserez has been a key
player for the Crusaders, scoring
from all over the comt and averaging 7.5 rebounds a game.
"He's been steady for us all
season long," Kremer said. "The
amazing thing about him is he
gets all those rebounds from the
two-guard spot."
Monserez takes rebounding
seriously.
"I've been pretty happy with
the way I've played this year,"
he said. "I've been playing pretty hard, and that's how I judge
the way I play. l doh't look at
how many points I score. I go out
to get rebounds, do some scoring
<:lnd play defense."
Monserez knows defense is a
key to Moeller's success.
"We have a lot of talent on the
defensive end," he said. "If we
can really commit to defense,
we'll go a long way."
Monserez is following in the
footsteps of his older brother,
Mike, who led the Crusaders to
the 1999 Division I state title
from the point guard slot. Mike

then went to play basketball for
Notre Dame last season before
transfen·ing to Butler University
in Indianapolis.
·
Mike Monserez practices
with the team at Butler but is
prohibited from playing this season due to NCAA transfer rules.
He has come to town to see several Crusader games this year.
"He helps me out a lot," Nick
Monserez said. "He's always
there to help me. He gives me a
lot of tips."
On the court, the brothers
don't have much in common
besides a name.
"They're totally different
styles," Kremer said. "Nick's
more athletic than· Mike. Mike
goes between the free-throw
lines and sets everything up. He
has the ball in his hands all the
time. Nick goes from the freethrow line to the rim and is a
great shooter, too."
The younger Monserez is one
of several talented Crusaders
who hope to take the team a long
way. Scott Byrnes has played a
solid point guard; 6-foot-7 Clint
Nagel is at center, helping the
team with his size and all-around
game.
Tyler Tabler, Sean Mahoney,
Jim Wood, Jeff Reisert, Jeff Silber, Matt Hoffmann, Jamie
Schwertman and Ryan McGlone
also contribute on the varsity
roster.
"We're one of the teams that
really has a chance to be strong
in the tournament," Kremer said.
"Like everyone else, we have to
gel at the right time to play our
best basketball in March."

• KETTE.RING . ALTER 5C(
MOELLER 46 - Senior Adam
Waleskowski scored 11 points·
in the second·quarter as Alter,
No. 1 in the Associated Press
Division II state poll, opened
up a nine-point halftime lead.
The Crusaders played their
second straight game without
senior forward Matt Sylvester,
who was suspended after his
involvement in an altercation
...._against Walnut HiYs. ,
~ "Matt made a bad choice,"
~ M?eller coach Carl Kremer
~ sa1d. "We support the choice
)... oft~e official to eject him."
Co~sidering Tuesday's
0
~game y;as decided by just four
points, the loss of . Sylvester
loomed large for Moeller.
·"You're playing without
one of the best scorers in the
city," Kremer said. "You can't
even really think about that,
it's just ,part of the game.
Whenever you lose a· great
player it's a factor."

points, 58-54, with 46 seconds left on a
Sylvester tip-in but that is as close as it
got. It was the only basket of the half for
Matt Sylvester of Moeller and. Jardan . the 6-foot-7 Ohio State-bound senior forCornette of St. Xavier may have been the .ward, thanks in large part to the defense
headliners in Friday night's Greater Cath- of the 6-8 Cornette. Sylvester had 11
olic League South showdown but St. Xa- -points to go along with three blocked
vier's Mike Grogan certainly Pidn't play shots. Cornette- headed to Notre Damesecond fiddle.
responded with 16 points and six blocked
A senior guard, Grogan· . drilled two shots, including three against Sylvester.
three-pointers from the same spot in left
He ended the' game with a breakaway
·corner late in the fourth quarter to help slam.
The Post's top-ranked Ohio-area DiviSion
"The momentum was with Moeller for
I team erase a ·12-point Moeller lead and
go on to a 63-5~ home win in front of a three quarters but it came our way in the
packed house of 2,300 at Dick Berning fourth," Cornette~- "We were helping
Gym. St. Xavier outscored Moeller,. 29-10, a lot on Sylvester-early and left their guys
O!-;eP... Anybady can hit open shots and
in the final quarter.
The Bombers remain undefeated at 5-0 that's wp~ they did."
overall and 3-0 in the GCL South, while
Following a three-pointer by Moeller
No.· 4 Moeller falls to 2-2 and H in the senior guard Jim Wood that made it
league. Both teams-shot 52 percent from 32-18, the Crusaders didn't score for the
the. field and each made eight treys. Re- final 3:29 of the game. Their last three
bounds w~re equal at 17 each and tum- possessions resulted in two turnovers
overs were minimal (Moeller eigh~, St. and a missed shot while St. Xavier scored
Xavier six). The difference was when and seven points to close out the halt
from where Grogan hit his shots.
"I thought they extended their pres"I struggled early in the game to ·find sure (in the fourth quarter) and we qwt
my shot," said Grogan, who finished with going inside," Moeller coach Carl-Kremer
14 points, including four treys. "We lost said. "It didn't seem like they missed a
so much off of last year's team that I shot in the fourth quarter. They got great
wanted to step up. We've got to have looks and, to their players' credit, they
more than just one guy step up for us and hit them."
I was open on those shots."
MOELLER
1V 13 12 10-54
10 15 11 2V-63
The first of his fourth-quarter bombs at ST. XAVIER
(54): Byrnes 50 11. Monserez 5 114, Nagel2 3 7. Sylvester
gave St. Xavier a 51-50 lead with 2:40 left • 50 11.MOELLER
Wood 1 311. Totals: 21 4 54.
.
to play. It was the Bombers' first lead of
ST. XAVIER (63): Callahan 3 0 8, Grogan 4 2' ', Cc.;nette 6 416. Bast 2
the game. His second shot made it 56-50· I 5, Retzlnger 41 10, Shriver 0 I I. Wi,'.r.r.·o ·, v 2. Totals 23 9 63.
Halftime: Moeller, 32-25. Tlu"ee-polnt goals: M-Monserez 3, Wood 3,
with 1:27 left.
Byrnes, Sylvester. X-Grogan 4. Callahan 2, Bast, Retzlnger. Records:
Moeller
2·2, 1·1 GCLS; St Xavier 5-0. ~- JV: Moeller, 57-55;.,
The Crusaders got to within four
By

Post contributor

·

TERRY DUENNE:S/The Post

St. Xavier's Jordan Cornette launches a shot against Moeller. The Notre Dame-